Polk's Folly: An American Family History - Hardcover

Polk, William R.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385491506 ISBN 13: 9780385491501

Publisher: Doubleday, 2000

Synopsis

The grand saga of American history told through the story of one remarkable family--a chronicle of pioneers and generals, presidents and scoundrels, cowboys and killers, Southern belles and civil rights heroes.

In 1680, a Scots-Irish mercenary named Robert Pollok fled war-torn Ireland with his family, in search of safe haven and a better life in the New World. When Robert (now using the name "Polk") arrived in Maryland, the only land available was a wretched piece of swampfront the locals derisively dubbed "Polk's Folly." From this desperate and hardscrabble beginning, the Polk clan would flourish, and generate some of the most fascinating and colorful characters in American history.

When William Polk was a boy in Texas, he sat rapt as his grandmother Molly spun tales of family lore, of Civil War heroes and rascals, presidents and slaves, Indian traders and fighters. Polk would go on to have a long and prestigious career as a historian and diplomat, but he kept his grandmother's stories alive for his children, and when he retired, decided to research the truth behind the family history.

And what a history. In these pages one finds drafters of an early Declaration of Independence, oft-wounded soldiers of the Revolutionary War, women taken hostage by Indians, land speculators, slaveholding aristocrats and populist crusaders, one of our greatest presidents, Civil War generals and foot soldiers from North and South, a grandfather who shot the sheriff of Laredo and became a cattle baron, the founders of the Wall Street firm Davis Polk, Patton's lead tank commander, Martin Luther King's lawyer, and the author's amazing brother, a World War II Navy pilot and journalist who was the first casualty of the Cold War.

The saga of this family is the story of the United States. Polk's Folly is both epic in scope and intimate in detail--a unique book about our shared past.
When Bill Polk was a boy in Texas, he sat rapt as his grandmother spun tales of family history, of Civil War heroes and rascals, of presidents and slaves, Indian traders and fighters. Throughout his long and distinguished career as a historian, Bill kept her stories alive for his children, and when he retired decided to approach his family story as a historian would.

And what a history. In these pages one finds drafters of an early Declaration of Independence, oft-wounded soldiers of the Revolutionary War, women taken hostage by Indians, land speculators, slaveholding aristocrats and populist crusaders, one of our greatest presidents, Civil War generals and foot soldiers from North and South, a grandfather who shot the sheriff of Laredo and became a cattle baron, the founders of the powerful Wall Street firm Davis, Polk, Patton's lead tank commander, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s lawyer, and the author's amazing brother, a Navy pilot and journalist who was the first casualty of the Cold War.

The saga of this family is the story of the United States. It is both epic in scope and intimate in detail--a unique book for an age obsessed with the past. -->

About this title

Review:

While just a young boy growing up in Texas, still playing cowboys and Indians in what was once Comanche country, William R. Polk listened excitedly to stories from his aging grandmother "Molly" Harding Polk. Molly was a child, and later bride, of the American Civil War, and had grown up listening to stories from her grandfather, born during the Revolutionary War. "So, in just two memories," William R. relates, "I had laid out for me tales of the entire history of the United States."

This upbringing gave Polk a start in understanding both his country's history and that of his family--which, as it turns out, lays claim to more than a few noteworthy Americans. Later a teacher at Harvard and history professor at the University of Chicago (not to mention a state department vet under both Johnson and Kennedy, making William R. a formidable American in his own right), Polk turned his professional scrutiny to studying this remarkable lineage, which includes comrades-in-arms of George Washington, more than a few plucky frontiersmen (one who was accused of shooting the sheriff of Laredo--in self-defense, of course), a four-star general who was a brilliant WWII tank commander under Patton, a feisty lawyer who defended Martin Luther King, and America's tireless 11th president, James Knox Polk.

Using these lives and the intimate stories surrounding them, Polk traces the story of our country in a meaningful, personal, and coherent way, "hang[ing] my tale of American history on a sort of 'backbone,' composed of my family." --Paul Hughes

From the Back Cover:

Advance praise for William R. Polk's epic history:

"Restless, energetic Polks seem to turn up whenever American history is being made--in the Revolution, in the Old South, in the Old West, even, with James K. Polk, in the White House. William Polk has written a wonderful and original book, using his own family's unusual saga to tell the story of the nation itself."
--Lance Morrow

"Polk's Folly is a great, fresh idea captivatingly realized, truly a superior work."
--Howard K. Smith

"Polk's Folly is a truly remarkable job of bringing the fascinating, diverse, and often prominent Polk family saga to life within a wider historical framework. William Polk's awareness of the details of life and action and thought in various eras and places makes those times and locales come to life and pull a reader along to see what happens next. Here history meets very fine storytelling, with a vivid cast of characters."
--John Graves, author of Goodbye to a River

"Polk's Folly opens up new angles of vision on American history by bringing William Polk's acute historical imagination to bear on the record--oral and written--handed down by his ancestors and collateral relatives. The result is an amazing story of ups and downs, surprising success and sudden death. What a family! What an extraordinary book!" --William H. McNeill, author of The Rise of the West and former president of the American Historical Association

"William Polk has weaved the stories of his ancestors, some famous, all interesting characters, into an original and entrancing history of America. His research is impressive and his storytelling a delight."
--Richard Barnet

About this edition

• Publisher: Doubleday
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0385491506
• ISBN 13: 9780385491501
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 544