In Praise of Some Old Friends

More than 60 years ago, when I was a fifth-grader, Sister Mary Philomene sent our class to the school library to pick out books to read. In the process of selection, I came across a series of books dealing with American history that have been my lifelong companions: Landmark Books by Random House.

That day, I selected two, "The Monitor and the Merrimac" and "The Explorations of Pere Marquette." I read them, was fascinated by them and looked for more. During the years, I have read "Ben Franklin of Old Philadelphia," "The Barbary Pirates," "The Erie Canal" (one of my favorites), "Peter Stuyvesant of Old New York," "John Paul Jones, Fighting Sailor" and many others. I have re-read a number of them more than once -- three this last week while I was on vacation. I still look for them in resale shops and at rummage sales. I like their 177-page format, their large print, their occasional drawings and the quality of the writing. It moves.

As a boy, I didn't know many of the Landmark selections (and later companion World Landmark selections, a complimentary set dealing with world history) actually were abridged versions of works by prominent authors, including Sterling North, Pearl S. Buck, John Gunther, Quentin Reynolds, Van Wyck Mason, C.S. Forrester, Richard Trevaskis and William L. Shirer.


What I particularly liked about the books, is they seemed to bring to life the great Americans we had met in our history classes. The printed names on the page of the history book became real people, as I came to know the Wright Brothers as they, through trial and error, flew at Kitty Hawk, as Custer met his fate at Little Big Horn and as Lincoln and Douglas debated for a seat in the U.S. Senate. I came to see the men who made our country not merely as references on a printed page but as people who worked and fought for their goals.

Today, the Landmark books are being discarded by libraries. About five years ago, while directing a play at Edison Junior High, I walked into the library and found a half dozen of the series in the "discard pile."

Nevertheless, the series has found great favor with the home-schoolers. It is argued, that were a student to read all 122 books in the series, "he would obtain a better education in U.S. History than 95 percent of students graduating from high school."

Others would disagree, arguing each book deals with only one topic or one person. A good school history book, they correctly point out, does a better job of dealing with trends and causes and effects -- of tying loose ends together. It also deals with a myriad of other incidents and historical personages not touched by the 122 books in the Landmark series.

But to the extent the Landmark books deal with a subject or a person, I think the proponents' argument clearly accurate.


As regards the voyages of Columbus, the landing of the Pilgrims, Paul Revere and the Minutemen, our independence and Constitution, the California Gold Rush, the Pony Express, Lee and Grant at Appomattox, the first trans-continental railroad, the Lewis and Clark Expedition and 112 other topics, I think the claim is clearly true. If our history books dedicate a page to Jimmy Doolittle's attack on Japan or the story of our marines on Guadalcanal, each book in the series devotes about 177 pages.

Both the Landmark and World Landmark series still are available. Oftentimes, you can buy them very reasonably on eBay in bunches or individually.

If you are wondering what prompted this op-ed, it's the razing of our historical statues, the cries to remove the names of Robert E. Lee, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington from the facades of our schools and the demand for removal of certain great books from our schools. (E.g., "Tom Sawyer," "Huckleberry Finn," "To Kill a Mockingbird.")

No rational person could make such a demand after reading and understanding the Landmark books, "Robert E. Lee and the Road of Honor," or "Thomas Jefferson, Father of Democracy."

But then, burning books always has been quicker and easier than reading and understanding them.


Posted: QCOline.com October 2, 2017
Copyright 2017, John Donald O'Shea