I Never Knew That About Colorado: A Quaint Volume of Forgotton Lore

by Abbott Fay

In his book I Never Knew That About Colorado, author and historian Abbott Fay presents a unique compilation of long-forgotten and little-publicized happenings of Colorado history. While this book is not essentially a book of trivia, some of the items might be considered trivial. Unless an item is described as questionable, it is the result of cross-documentation that indicates it really happened beyond a reasonable doubt. This book is great fun as the reader browses the fringe of Colorado history.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

182 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1997

About the author

Abbott Fay (1926 - 2009) was a combat infantry veteran of World War II. He completed his college studies in Colorado and began his teaching career at Leadville, Colorado. Later, he became a history professor at Mesa State College in Grand Junction and Western State College in Gunnison, and became an adjunct professor at Adams State College in Alamosa. For more than 50 years, he has taught history and collected unique tales about Colorado.

Reviews

[Nita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of quirky, amusing, and fun tidbits about Colorado. I did raise an eyebrow about his writing tone regarding indigenous peoples in the beginning and that section could use an update with input from those respective tribes. If you like historical tidbits, you might enjoy this.

[Jesse “Burnsy” Warner · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick, simple read. I did enjoy learning some new fun facts about Colorado, but I felt the writing style and content choices were a bit weird at times, plus some questionable source material used.

[Katie Kramer · Rating 1 out of 5]

SO RACIST.

[Douglas Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

a unique and quirky look at Colorado. it sits nicely in my local history collection.

[Katherine Wiggett · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very fun read with a lot of interesting tid bits. It left me wanting to know more. I would have preferred if the entries were longer, but that just isn't what this book. It is a good book for whetting ones interest in history.

The book has some very obvious writing flaws, but the information is worth the read.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

An all right little book, with a few new facts that I really didn't know about Colorado...but overall...the stories were like reading abstracts of science articles, enough to let you know if you wanted to find out more, but not really telling you much of anything beyond that.

[LibraryKath · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chock full of fascinating history. Made me want to go back to Colorado.

[Melinda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Considering I grew up in Colorado, I had never heard 99% of these "forgotten lore" stories, though I knew the geographic cities or mountains. It was like taking a history class--a really fun read.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved all the amazing NEW things learned about the state I live in and Love!