Forgotten Heroes: Inspiring American Portraits from Our Leading Historians

A solid mix of journalists, independent writers and relatively well-known academics here present people they consider to have made a mark on their times without receiving the acclaim commensurate with their accomplishments. Though perhaps not all the men and women covered can properly be called ""forgotten heroes"" (John Quincy Adams, for one), the subjects of these 35 lively essays all seem to have made a difference. They range from Henry Knox, who hauled a cannon through the wilderness to hold off the British during the Revolutionary War, to Lew Ayers, celebrated for his performance in the classic film All Quiet on the Western Front, who put his movie career on the line to avow his principles as a conscientious objector. The writing quality reaches a high level in former New York Times columnist Tom Wicker's story of the Knox epic or in paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould's unlikely piece about a deaf baseball player named Hoy who, Gould argues, belongs in the Hall of Fame. Ware, a professor of history at Radcliffe (Still Missing: Amelia Earhart and the Search for Modern Feminism), devotes more than a third of the book to unsung women, many of them in the forefront of movements to improve the lot of their sisters in such areas as civil liberties, suffrage and working conditions. While not a volume to be read in one sitting, this book is an ideal bedside companion that offers the occasional illuminating glimpse into fascinating if little-known episodes of American history. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Sept.)