Page 18 - Boca Club News - June '22

Page 18, Boca Club News

The Arts

Book Review...“Chasing Eden: A Book of Seekers”

By Nils A. Shapiro present a rather different then completely forgotten—only to have them come alive
Of the almost 200 books I have picture of our national here as powerful, even emotional, episodes in our nation’s
reviewed in this column over the hero: past. Ask yourself, as one example, what you remember
past 15 years, many have been “As a veteran of the about the Mummyjums, or the Shaker movement, of the
non-fiction about various periods French and Indian Wars, New England states—then prepare to be very surprised by
of history—most particularly those Washington was also what you learn in these pages.
covering ancient, medieval or promised ‘bounty lands’ But it is in the section on Seekers of Peace—in which
colonial American history. (As a in the Ohio country. He the author ranges from a description of his own boyhood,
confessed TV news “junkie,” I try secretly bought more land growing up in a neighborhood of Long Island, New York
to avoid any books dealing with current politics as being rights from cash-strapped during the Vietnam War period, to the full, richly detailed
overkill and numbingly depressing.) veterans by having his true story of our nation’s first Thanksgiving (and you
Among the outstanding authors whose works I have brother purchase the discover how little you really know about that day and its
admired in this category, and from whom I have learned claims. He also used a aftermath)—that Mansfield affected me most emotionally.
so much, is the man whose 13th published book is the distant cousin as a front. This chapter alone is worth the price of the book!
subject of this month’s column—the third of his works I Washington ignored a Although I was raised in The Bronx—a different one of
have brought to your attention over the years. law restricting the extent the city’s boroughs, and at a slightly different time period—
This author is Howard Mansfield, a highly regarded of riverfront holdings. To avoid riverfront monopolies, a his growing up experiences so closely paralleled mine that
writer and researcher whom I have personally placed in landowner was forbidden from owning long strips of land I might well have been reading from my own diary...and
a special category: “concept historian,” because of the that would block access for other landowners. Most veterans many readers of this column who are very likely to be in
unique, very special approach he takes to the subject of had narrow properties with a mile and a half of riverfront; or not to far from my own age group will share that same
each book. Washington had one property hugging the river for more nostalgia.
As an example: His most recent book before “Chasing than forty miles. In the end, Washington owned 30 percent The section on Seekers of Freedom focuses on promises
Eden” was “The Habit of Turning the World Upside Down,” of the Ohio bounty lands by the Kanawha River. He owned made and promises broken to many true Americans, an
which I reviewed here a couple of years ago. In its pages, the best of the bounty lands, more than 30,000 acres with aspect of our nation’s character that lives with us today.
using a series of fascinating examples, Mansfield reveals survey rights to another 10,000 acres...” There are a number of fine authors of non-fiction history
in his own way the very soul of the American character This newest volume, “Chasing Eden,” also offers an books that make the bestseller lists on a regular basis. I have
that was first described famously to the rest of the world extraordinary wealth of information about people and events read and reviewed some in this column. Howard Mansfield
almost two hundred years ago by the French aristocrat and in American history certain to be completely new to you. is as good as the best of them. Find out for yourself by
diplomat Alexis de Toqueville. As I wrote in that review: Mansfield’s focus here is on another important concept: picking up a copy of “Chasing Eden” and discover how,
“Howard Mansfield...a kind of literary Norman several waves of groups among the American people who, sometimes, there is so much more worth knowing about
Rockwell...has once again painted a picture of the true throughout the centuries, have impacted our nation by the more hidden people and events of our nation’s history.
American character, from the arrival of the Pilgrims to the their determination to seek—and secure—one of three What sets him apart is his prodigious—almost
present day: an insatiable hunger for owning property...” aspirations: God, Freedom or Peace. unfathomable—skill at researching the thousands of new
And because of Mansfield’s remarkable research It is impossible to read the stories that fill these pages facts that fill his pages and the unique concept on which he
abilities, both that earlier book and his new “Chasing Eden” without pausing from time to time, simply in wonder at the develops each new book.
spill over with information I had never heard about–not in majesty of the author’s skill in having researched the most “Chasing Eden: A Book of Seekers” is one you don’t
all my history classes nor in the pages of any other book. minute details behind historic names and events that we may want to miss.
For example, from the earlier book, here is a description of vaguely remember as having heard mentioned in passing
George Washington’s post-presidency business dealings that many years ago, perhaps once in a classroom discussion—