Rach's Reading Club 2024

Legacy

Legacy is another one of James Michener's shorter works. Written in the 1980's, it is narrated by a fictional military officer named Norman Starr who is being forced to testify at the Iran-Contra hearings.

He then attempts to learn more about his past and the role that his ancestors played in American history. The book takes us through the lives of seven of his ancestors including a somewhat cantankerous veteran of the American Revolution, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, an almost comically lazy judge on the Supreme Court, a Confederate general in the Civil War, a suffragette, a critic of Roosevelt's Socialism, and a woman who worked to reform the American political system in more recent times.

Of course, this is a short novel, so the author doesn't say too much about any of these people, but what he does say makes them come alive.

Moreover, since they are fictional characters, Michener couldn't have doing anything too key in history without being inaccurate. They are, for the most part, second tier players in history. Observing and helping in various ways. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does make the book feel a little underwhelming.

Still, I enjoyed this book. I've thought about trying to read one of Michener's longer historical epics, but this is a good book for someone that's not quite ready for that commitment.