Synopsis
In Genevieve Foster's inimitable style, she brings to life the dawn of the 19th century with all its wonderful advancements in transportation, communication, and technology! This is the age of Napoleon, Jefferson, Toussaint, Livingston, Robert Fulton, Richard Trevithick, Beethoven, Lewis and Clark, Sacajawea, Dolley Madison and many others.
While the world of technology is progressing rapidly, human rights and liberty are variously being trampled or rising. The megalomaniac Napoleon is proclaiming "liberty, equality, and fraternity" to a war-weary Europe, Jefferson is contemplating the largest land purchase in the history of the world, and Toussaint L'Ouverture is fighting for liberty in Haiti, while Robert Livingston, Robert Fulton, Richard Trevithick, Beethoven, Lewis and Clark, Sacajawea, and Dolley Madison are all playing their parts.
Foster's use of "horizontal history", weaves these stories together by delightful retellings and whimsical illustrations. In this memorable retelling, youthful readers will come to appreciate why Foster was convinced that "history is drama.
About the Author
Genevieve Foster began her career as a commercial artist, illustrator, and advertiser. In the late 1930s it occurred to Foster to write about history in a "horizontal" versus "vertical" fashion, i.e., that national histories should not be taught in isolation from one another. She said that the way history was traditionally taught was "about as dull and unsatisfying, as a play might be, if only one character appeared upon the stage, while the others faintly mumbled their lines in the wings, out of sight of the audience."
She was at the forefront of this new method of historical writing, which viewed history as a cross section of intertwined events and looked at a person in their worldwide historical context. In her books, she integrated global historical events into the telling of a person's life. Her purpose was to make historical figures "alive for children". During her career she wrote 19 nonfiction children's books. Foster traveled extensively and most of her books were translated into 12 15 languages and were distributed by the U.S. State Department.
Foster wrote, nearly fifty years ago, that "nothing is more critical, I believe, than that children growing up in these critical explosive days should be given an understanding of American history as a part of the history of the world. Every year this grows more urgent, as increasingly rapid communication integrates world events more closely and the impact of foreign affairs on our own lives becomes more serious and immediate." Her prescient words resonate with perhaps more truth today and her books continue to broaden the perspectives of her readers.
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