Our Common Bonds

Dear Chuck:

I have a lot to say about your essay on the Constitution and how it may be out country's fatal flaw that the one thing we all agree on is the one thing that does us in. But before that, I need to talk about what we share.

You start your new book by writing about how all you and your friends back in Wyndmere thumbed through The Book Of Lists. I didn't. I did read it. And memorized it. And the two sequels. And would recite the lists to anyone willing to listen. And all three People's Almanacs, and The Book of Predictions. I was obsessed with that stuff like other kids were obsessed with comics.

Not long ago at a library in a nearby town I found the first two People's Almanacs and read them for the first time since junior high. They were published in the '70s but it was like rifling through ancient tomes. I read the authors' introductions. They wrote, "This is a reference book to be read for fun. Ordinary almanacs tell you who rules a country, but we tell you who really rules. Ordinary almanacs have pieces on great historical figures, but we tell you about the 'footnote people' in history."

Much like Howard Zinn, Irving Wallace and offspring were attempting to present a counterbalance to traditional narratives. Since then, many of the "footnote people" depicted in the Almanacs are now quite familiar: Emma Goldman, Carrie Nation, Nellie Bly, to name three. Websites like "Badass Of The Week" let everyone know about Emperor Joshua Norton, Allan Pinkerton, and Desmond Doss. And everyone and his/her sibling makes listicles like "10 Amazing People You Should Know About."

Rereading those books now reminds me of a sad fact: I'll never again be as excited to learn something as I was when I first discovered the original Book of Lists on my aunt's bookshelf as a kid. It was my introduction to the adult world, a world of cool and fun knowledge. That book did for me what that Motley Crue cassette did for you when you were eleven.

Best,

Dan