Robert M. Poole

Interesting like most historical summaries are (who knew how General Lee lost his estate?), and also because it brings to light the importance of honoring the lives of people, especially those who contribute to the survival of a country and its ideals. That importance compels the national government to exert enormous effort to recover bodies of war dead and inter them with respect. The details involved in that effort are surprising which makes the reader admire the effort - for example searching foreign battlefields for years for bodies, identifying them and respectfully transporting them to cemeteries. Who knew?… (more)

I have always been a fan of National Geographic. One of the very first things I did with part of my first paycheck, from my very first full-time job, was take out a subscription to the NG magazine, which I kept up for several years. The iconic yellow border was always, in my mind, a symbol of high quality photojournalism. And of course, it helped launch the career of Jane Goodall, one of my heroes, among many others.

I found this book to be a fascinating history of the Society and I learned so much that I never knew and never imagined, including some things I wish I hadn't known. I love that at the very beginning of the book, there is a family tree map that shows how the three families (Hubbard, Bell, and Grosvenor) came together to create this organization and how the direct line of this family-run, non-profit organization remained true for 5 generations, over 100 years .

I never knew that Alexander Graham Bell was even involved in the NGS, let alone a one-time president of it! I was somewhat shocked to find out just how close the ties were between the NGS and the government(s) of the early part of the twentieth century. "So many bylines from so many bureaucrats and military officials appeared in the magazine that it sometimes seemed like an extension of the government" . National Geographic cooperated and participated with the CIA and FBI, and supplied maps to the armed forces during both World Wars and several other wars, as well.

Worst of all, in my eyes, was the overt racism and bigotry that was evident in the early part of the 1900s among the top echelon of the NGS. Membership into the Society was restricted and denied to Blacks, there was blatant anti-Semitism and the elder Grosvenor was a Nazi sympathizer. There are even some passages quoting contributors to the magazine in those early days whose words ring in my ears today, and sound frighteningly like the current Washington administration. I find that terrifying.

This was a fascinating read, on many levels, even if it was not always a comfortable one.

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