Just finished reading: An Oral History of Atlantis
When I received a notification of a mysterious package at my PO box, I was intrigued but prepared for disappointment. Upon realizing it was a book, my expectation rose — and I was thrilled to open the envelope and find an advance copy of Ed Park’s new book An Oral History of Atlantis sent by Random Books.
His book Same Bed Different Dreams kicked off my occasional habit of doodling and/or pulling together blogs about fiction. (See? I really had no choice.)
I flagged passages and people while reading that made me think of doodles and semi-related trivia. Once again, I was caught off guard by overlaps between the two books I was reading (the other being The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America's Banana King by Rich Cohen). While mentally arranging this post, I wondered if these weird, loose connections are even interesting to anyone but me…
but then I saw that Boston Globe declared that “Park excels at spotting unexpected connections” and, well, maybe at least one other person appreciates this type of thing.
In any case, here are the overlaps on these two very different books (both of which I highly recommend):
Panama (one being a canal and the other being a hat)
whale
banana (with one book obviously having many, many references and this book having just one)
Yalta
stevedores
things named after Calhoun (dining hall and a street)
FDR
Abe Lincoln
Very disappointed that I drew my Venn diagram too soon, missing out on the opportunity to cram in FDR and Lincoln.
Stuff named for John Calhoun
This book mentions a residential college named for Calhoun; the other mentions a road named for him. I assume both would have been named for John C. Calhoun the once-attractive-on-the-outside but never-attractive-on-the-inside two-time VP who aged into the stuff of nightmares (which seems a bit more like truth in advertising, if I say so). But I suppose it could also be named for John E. Calhoun, John C. Calhoun’s father-in-law. As if it’s not weird to marry someone with the same name as your dad, Flouride Calhoun’s mom’s name was also Floride Calhoun. I discovered a while ago that I drew the wrong Floride in the doodle below… right below where I drew the other wrong Calhoun.
I suppose these things could have been named for Floride Calhoun.
Or The Other Floride Calhoun.
But probably not.
Heirs of the Founders: Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster, the Second Generation of American Giants, by H. W. Brands
I have confirmation: the Calhoun in this book is of the John C. Calhoun variety.
Chess set
A reference to a Grant-esque chess piece brought to mind Theodore Roosevelt’s dad, who was appointed Collector of Customs to the Port of New York by President Hayes. He was pretty pleased, thinking it was clearly a reward for the awesome stuff he’d done for NYC. In reality, it was a signal from the president to Roscoe Conkling and his big, dumb machine… who could both kiss Hayes’ tush. (I’m paraphrasing a bit here.)
Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. was just a pawn in the spoils vs. reform game. The stress was too much for the 46-year-old and within months he was dead.
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, by Edmund Morris
Flung books
When Warren G. Harding was a student, he’d cram, say “Now, darn it, I’ve got you” and then either bang the book on the wall (if you believe what I wrote in the doodle below) or hurl the book at the wall (if you believe what I drew / what I remember reading).
Listing the presidents in order
Made me think of the time I tried to list all of the presidents. Not in order. It took me more than six minutes, but I did it. Sort of. I bet I could do it faster now. And probably not even include a Beatle.
(Side note: like my list of presidents, this book also includes a reference to the Beatles! Not in a list of presidents, though. Ed Park knows what he’s doing.)
“It does a body good.”
A reference to U.S. Dairy farmers made me think of the time ol’ Tricky Dick colluded with the milk industry. In exchange for $2 million in campaign contributions, he passed on $5000-700 million in extra cost to milk buyers. My diagram is not to scale, but you get the idea.
Charles de Gaulle showed up
And John Philip Sousa…
… which prompts me to share that someone tried to pay John Philip Sousa fifty bucks to crash Grover Cleveland’s wedding by pretending to be a triangle player in the marine band.
Buffalo
You probably know Grover Cleveland spent time in Buffalo. Buffalo was also mentioned in this book, so here’s some fancy lettering!
Sherman’s March
I’m going to be honest… I think I only flagged this because of a synesthesia reference. While I think synesthesia is endlessly fascinating, it’s not something I’d include in a post like this. But going back to this section made me curious about a previously glossed over reference to Sherman’s March. I wasn’t familiar with that and wondered who Sherman was. Guess what? It’s General William Tecumseh Sherman! I have a doodle of him!
I’d love to tell you all about General William Tecumseh Sherman’s coincidental synesthesia. Unfortunately, I would just be making it up.
Moby Dick
He’s baaaaaaack.
Moby Dick and/or Herman Melville has appeared in so many books lately that I’m starting to wonder if it’s a sign that I should read Moby Dick. I’ve even started a collection of references for a possible future post.
My daughter even recently read a Melville quote for the morning announcements at school. (She didn’t select the quote and was unimpressed by the Melville facts I shared.)
But I digress.
Moby Dick was only mentioned once in this book, it’s probably not a sign.
The Age of Acquiescence: The Life and Death of American Resistance to Organized Wealth and Power, by Steve Fraser
PS I’ve seen Moby Dick hyphenated and not. I’m committing to no hyphen because that’s how I started and I get to make the rules here.
Muhammed Ali
Also Abe Lincoln was mentioned in a separate short story and look… here they both are! Muhammed Ali’s great-great-great grandfather Archer Alexander is the guy with Lincoln in the Emancipation Memorial. Alexander escaped enslavement and warmed the army of plans to destroy a bridge used by the Union Army.
William Williams / Walter Walter
A reference to a Walter Walter made me think of William Williams. I didn’t remember that I used this same doodle when I talked about Same Bed Different Dreams nor do I remember why.
Mütter
A Professor Mütter was mentioned, so I might as well mention that Grover Cleveland’s tumor is on display at the Mütter Museum, along with a bit of John Wilkes Booth’s thorax, a smidge of Charles Guiteau’s brain, and bladder stones that formerly resided in Chief Justice Thurgood Marshall. Two of the aforementioned men were assassins though I doubt either ever “hamstered [their] way through the ventilation system” whilst assassinating.
Note to self: start using “hamster” as a verb.
Atavism
I always enjoy when a previously-unknown-to-me word crops up. I first encountered “atavism” when I read that Theodore Roosevelt called his colleague Commissioner Grant (President Grant’s grandson) “one of the most interesting studies in atavism. I am sure his brain must produce that of some long-lost arboreal ancestor.”
Ouch.
Moby Dick
Dang! A second reference. This is definitely a sign.
When I looked it up, I stumbled on a book titled Why Read Moby-Dick? by Nathaniel Philbrick… who wrote one of the books I read about Washington. Sigh.
OK, fine. I will read Moby Dick. If Philbrick’s book convinces me to.
For more fiction, check out these posts:
A collection of semi-related tangents