A Treasury of Foolishly Forgotten Americans by Michael Farquhar

* The lives of Richard Johnson and Clement Vallandigham do nothing to dispel the conclusion that most unsuccessful politicians earn their obscurity. (You wouldn't invite Mary or Zilpha into your home for a riveting discussion of their religious enthusiasms reading about them is no less unappealing.) * That evangelist Zilpha Elaw was a black woman might be unusual, but doesn't make reading about her call to Jesus, and subsequent proselytizing, any less tedious. * It's a shame that Mary Dyer was hanged for her Quaker beliefs, but a mildly remarkable death doesn't mean her life was interesting.

* The sadly pedestrian criminal behavior of John Billington does not become interesting just because he was a passenger on the Mayflower. Farquhar, or his editors, should have realized that: A useful test question would have been 'Is this someone I would enjoy sitting next to on a plane?' Had the author applied it, several characters would not have made the cut, and this would have been an infinitely better book. Despite Farquhar's enthusiasm, not everyone profiled in this book lived an interesting, let alone a fascinating, life. One obvious problem is that some people deserve to languish in obscurity. Farquhar shines a light on thirty characters who would otherwise remain shrouded in the mists of obscurity, with mixed results.

As the cover blurb reminds us, countless fascinating characters are relegated to the footnotes of history, a situation that Michael Farquhar tries to remedy in this entertaining book.

A Treasury of Foolishly Forgotten Americans by Michael Farquhar