7 March, 2002: Banvard's Folly
I had been waiting for this book for so long that perhaps it was bound to be a disappointment. Banvard's Folly, by Paul Collins, is thirteen tales of the losers of history: oddballs, frauds, hucksters, and lunatics who never quite succeeded. I'd read a couple chapters already in McSweeney's, and I was desperately looking forward to this, a book that sounded tailor-made for me. I read it in the course of a weekend and enjoyed it, but found it somewhat lacking, especially given the degree to which I had enjoyed Collins' essays when I originally read them. (They are among the inspirations for the mode in which I attempt to write my weblog.) I like histories about cheats, losers, frauds, and the dwellers on societies' fringes. But I like social history that picks small incidents and uses them to represent a larger world.