You know how Borders, er, Barnes and Noble has those "value books" racks near the doors? The ones where you can buy big, ol' hardcovers for like $5.99? I love the eclectic collections on those racks, anything from a photo journal of America's National Parks to the collected works of Edgar Allan Poe. Beautiful.
It turns out that the Kindle has a virtual version of the bargain book rack, called "100 books for $3.99 or less." So this weekend, having finished the reading for the first week of my Fuller class and before I started in on week 2's syllabus, I plunked down my virtual $3.99 and bought On Hallowed Ground: The Story of Arlington National Cemetery, thus reaffirming my history major status.
Did you know...
...that before JFK was buried at Arlington, the cemetery saw 2 million visitors per year? After he was laid to rest onsite, the number jumped to 7 million.
...that Arlington was originally the family estate of Robert E. Lee, Confederate general?
...that the Union military brass positioned the graves of dead soldiers in Mary Lee's flower garden in an effort to make the estate unlivable should the Lees get title back?
...that initial plans called for the Pentagon to be built on the grounds?
...that the Unknown Soldier from Vietnam was eventually disinterred and identified? In fact, forensic science has made it such that there will very likely never be another Unknown Soldier again. Further, the story of the Vietnam Unknown's burial is in large part the story of a government rushing to assuage the public's angst about an unpopular war.
...that for 150 years of armed conflict, this country has done an amazingly thorough job of caring for its war dead? For me that was the most impressive thing about the story of Arlington, that from the grisly efforts at repatriation to the solemn and practiced burial ceremony itself, the dead have for years been cherished and revered in this country.
No comments:
Post a Comment