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A Pocketful of History: Four Hundred Years of America--One State Quarter at a Time |
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You Are Here: Home > History Books > Kansas History > Item 26
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A Pocketful of History: Four Hundred Years of America--One State Quarter at a Time
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by Jim Noles
Sales Rank: 37429
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List Price: $25.00
$16.50
At Amazon
on 6-18-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Hard Cover with 240 pages
Published by: Da Capo Press May 5, 2008
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0306815788
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0306815782
Book Dimensions:
9 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
Weighs: 1.2 pounds
Product Review
"Readers will encounter familiar information but also the new and unfamiliar and will come away with a greater appreciation of their pocket change and the valuable history it can offer."—Library Journal
“Even if you are just spending the commemorative quarters to buy soda, bottled water or candy, this book should be added to your personal library. It could be an important introduction to U.S. history for some child who otherwise might suffer from history phobia…It is a fun and easy read full of information that seldom makes it into history text books.”—Roanoke Times
“A fascinating book and a fascinating premise…Very readable nonfiction…The quarters provide a wholly unexpected, sometimes quirky, sometimes surprisingly inspiring view of American history. This one is a fun read for anybody, and an absolute must-have for anybody who collects the state quarters.”—Montgomery Advertiser 4/27/08
“Even though Noles claims he is not a coin collector himself, he writes with the passionate and attention to detail of a seasoned pro. His book is breezy, informative and fascinating.”—Tucson Citizen 5/8/08
“Few of us ever bother to look at the loose change that jangles in our pockets and purses. Noles reminds us that what’s inscribed on those coins says a lot about the kind of country we are, and what we hope to be.”—Baton Rouge Advocate
“Everyone who collected these quarters—and anyone who loves anecdotal American history—will want to own and read Jim Noles A Pocketful of History.”—Constant Reader column
“This book will be a necessity for collectors of the new quarters, and a good read for older schoolchildren, encapsulating a lot of state history in a readable and unique form.”—Curled Up With a Good Book
“Winsome and valuable…A fascinating look at how politics and personalities shape what we see and how we see it—a history lesson in itself.”—Blogcritics.org
Product Description
The U.S. Mint’s Fifty State Quarters Program-its most ambitious program to date-has been a huge popular success. When the final state quarters are released in 2008, many thousands of individuals will have collected one commemorative quarter for each state in the Union. But what can we learn about our country’s history and culture from $12.50 worth of quarters? A Pocketful of History tells the intriguing story behind each state’s quarter: how each state picked its quarter’s design; what is important about the people, scenes, or themes depicted on the coin; and what the collection tells us about how we view ourselves and our heritage. A Pocketful of History will guide readers on a fascinating journey through America’s rich history of change.
Reader Reviews
History, Sartre said, is what happens behind our backs (or something to that effect). It's also something that jangles in our pockets, if we carry or save or even spend quarters from the 50 State Quarters Program. We know this because Jim Noles has taken the time and expended great effort to write the winsome and valuable A Pocketful of History: Four Hundred Years of America--One State Quarter at a Time (Da Capo Press). Following Canada's lead in the mid 1990s, the US government decided to issue, over a period of ten years, commemorative quarters representing some significant and representative event or symbol or enduring attribute of each of the fifty states, issued in the order in which all fifty states came into the union. There is more than one history at work here, that being a coin's depiction of a state's historical self-definition -- but, in addition, much to our benefit, Noles has taken the time to tell us the stories behind the states' decisions and debates on which events or symbols to use, and how best to depict them. Those descriptions in themselves prove to be a fascinating look at how politics and personalities shape what we see and how we see it -- a history lesson in itself. In scrupulous -- but not overbearing -- detail, Noles tells us about Delaware's Ceasar Rodney who, in 1776, suffering from a debilitating cancer, rode eighty miles in one day from his home state to Philadelphia just in time to cast his vote for independence; or Colorado's perhaps not unexpected depiction of the majestic Rockies as a symbol of the beauty and natural resources of the state; or North Dakota's display of bison and the stunning buttes and mountains that make up the 39th state's harshly beautiful Badlands. The legislation to create the 50 State Quarters Program was signed into law in 1997 by President Bill Clinton, and the plan was to issue the quarters incrementally over a ten-year period. By the end of 2008, with the minting of Hawaii's quarter (Hawaiian monarch King Kamehameha I stretching his hand toward the eight major Hawaiian Islands), the Quarters program officially ended, and it has proven to be an enormous success -- both financially for the government and aesthetically and historically for numismatists and otherwise interested parties everywhere. Noles, thankfully, provides us a comprehensive look at the very distinct, yet commonly bound, 50 states that make up the U.S. He does so with enough erudition to make the book substantive while interjecting the perfect amount of lightheartedness and whimsy to make the book eminently readable.
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A Pocketful of History: Four Hundred Years of America--One State Quarter at a Time
Available from Amazon
Price: $16.50
Updated on 6-18-2008.
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