Biography Of A Place, As Reflected In Its Characters

[Fishface]

This is sort of a subgenre of biographies, a book that puts together the biographies of large individual characters in a city or country and through them tells you the story of the place as a whole. I just read The Knave of Boston: & Other Ambiguous Massachusetts Characters and it is one of that species. He specifically talks about politicians in Boston who combine the features of villain and hero, explaining as he goes how Boston sees and remembers them for their deeds, in the process telling us about the city's group personality.

Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster is another one, giving us an oral history of the aftermath that tells us about the people who lived around the site and Ukrainian and Soviet life in general.

I would think The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography from the Revolution to the First World War is in this category too, although it focuses more on geography than it does on towering individuals in French culture.

I have another one called Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans that is the same sort of thing, but every time I reach for it something more pressing falls off the shelf and makes me read it.

And you know what, any of Bill Bryson's travel books are this exactly. Of course he focuses on the kooky details more than the Great Men Who Made The Country What It Is Today, but he still gives you a flavor of each country by pulling together little snapshots of that place.

[Koren]

Fishface wrote: "This is sort of a subgenre of biographies, a book that puts together the biographies of large individual characters in a city or country and through them tells you the story of the place as a whole..."

When I read the topic, Bill Bryson was the first one to come to mind.

[Selina]

Would Children of Las Vegas: True Stories about Growing up in the World's Playground count?

[Fishface]

I haven't read it but it sounds like the right sort of idea.

[Selina]

Ok for those wondering about where I live, have the perfect memoir for you. The Man Who Ate Lincoln Road

[Fishface]

And for my neck of the woods, try Devil's Night: And Other True Tales of Detroit.

[Selina]

I have read several A Day In The Life Of New Zealand, A Day In The Life Of London, A Day In The Life Of Australia: Photographed By 100 Of The World's Leading Photojournalists A Day in the Life of Canada, A Day in the Life of China

These are coffee table photographic books that hundreds of photographers go and take photos for just one day in that location from dawn till dusk and then it all gets put into these books. These were published back in the 80s so its quite interesting now to look back and see what life was like in the day and reflect on how much has changed or not. I pick them up for a song at op shops.

I suppose you can call them photographic memoirs, they do have descriptive captions which are interesting about the photos and they generally about ordinary people living there. Its literally snapshots of places that tell a story of a day in the life...

[Fishface]

So by that definition, you could include The Ruins Of Detroit. Beautiful photos of the crater at the center of the city.

[Selina]

Fishface wrote: "So by that definition, you could include The Ruins Of Detroit. Beautiful photos of the crater at the center of the city." Great book, an eyeopener and real sad too.

[Koren]

Here is a book that really stands out in my mind where the character of the town gave an incite into the minds of the inhabitants and the murderer:
In Broad Daylight: A Murder in Skidmore, Missouri by Harry McClean.

[Fishface]

Selina wrote: "Fishface wrote: "So by that definition, you could include The Ruins Of Detroit. Beautiful photos of the crater at the center of the city." Great book, an eyeopener and real sad too."

I so completely agree!

[Fishface]

I'd have to count The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple as one of this subgenre.

[Fishface]

Maybe I should also count American Murder Houses: A Coast-to-Coast Tour of the Most Notorious Houses of Homicide, about homes that became tourist attractions because of the murders committed inside them. The author provides the street addresses, square footage, lot size, number of bedrooms and so forth as if he were listing them for sale. This information does apply to at least one of the cases, the Ruppert family massacre -- I might have lost it myself if I were sharing a tiny place like that with my aged mother when 10 more people showed up just to say howdy. Lehto thumbnails each crime case and made me want to know more about each one. His 'Where To Read More' bibliography at the end of each chapter is pretty sparse but at least he gave us that much. Some of these cases I never heard of before. In each case he shows how the house was transformed from a place where people lived to a mecca for curiosity-seekers, and in some cases a museum of the crime.