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Appetite for America (and snow day)
Five inches of snow over slush. We've dug out and the electricity is holding, so things are good - but I'm knackered! I still have to be a responsible adult and pay a couple bills, buy a very belated Christmas present, sign up for a cheesemaking class, and write my backlog of reviews.
But then the rest of this unofficial snow day is mine, and I'm going to spend it with Appetite for America. The book is both frustrating and fascinating - frustrating, because things are mentioned in passing that could fill a whole book themselves. Fascinating, because they are mentioned at all, and in enough detail so you can see how they fit into the time period. For instance, one of Fred Harvey's friends was a literally pistol-packin' firebreathing newspaper editor called Daniel Anthony... and then Fried mentions in passing that Dan's sister just happened to be named Susan B. Other tangential bits of interesting news include the first economic depression (and why) and the jockying that created Kansas City and then turned it into an economic hub.
Fried has an even-handed "horns and halo" style of discussing some of the thornier bits of history. For example, the paragraph bridging pages 40-41 about Pullman and his new car service, which was universally staffed by the darkest-skinned black men Pullman could find. Fried points out the ugly side - that such men were inexpensive to hire and would be seen (and treated as) simply part of the Pullman furniture by the clients and probably Pullman himself, to the point that all the employees were renamed "George" while on duty. But Fried also points out that Pullman was employing a group that was chronically underemployed and paying them well for it -- at the time, it was the best employment opportunity for these men.
But then the rest of this unofficial snow day is mine, and I'm going to spend it with Appetite for America. The book is both frustrating and fascinating - frustrating, because things are mentioned in passing that could fill a whole book themselves. Fascinating, because they are mentioned at all, and in enough detail so you can see how they fit into the time period. For instance, one of Fred Harvey's friends was a literally pistol-packin' firebreathing newspaper editor called Daniel Anthony... and then Fried mentions in passing that Dan's sister just happened to be named Susan B. Other tangential bits of interesting news include the first economic depression (and why) and the jockying that created Kansas City and then turned it into an economic hub.
Fried has an even-handed "horns and halo" style of discussing some of the thornier bits of history. For example, the paragraph bridging pages 40-41 about Pullman and his new car service, which was universally staffed by the darkest-skinned black men Pullman could find. Fried points out the ugly side - that such men were inexpensive to hire and would be seen (and treated as) simply part of the Pullman furniture by the clients and probably Pullman himself, to the point that all the employees were renamed "George" while on duty. But Fried also points out that Pullman was employing a group that was chronically underemployed and paying them well for it -- at the time, it was the best employment opportunity for these men.
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