Greg Hawley

First of all when I was a student in my younger years we had a fieldtrip to the Steamboat Arabia Museum in Kansas City but I don't think I was old enough to recognize the importance of what I was seeing while being in a school tour usually ends up rushing one who would rather linger behind. And also the history bug hadn't quite bit me at this time so after reading this book I am hoping that I will get another chance to visit the museum now that I have had my eyes re-opened to the treasures that was found under a cornfield.

This book was a beautiful memoir that covered the timeframe and the efforts needed by a group of your average group of men who bit off more than they could chew yet persevered to see their efforts through. Through suffering, sacrifice and heartache they brought back to life the world of our ancestors while in doing so they erased all the pre-conceived notions of grayscale dullness with a world of bright colors, deep emotional humanity and of great beauty in a world that saw so much heartbreaking tears.

What makes the book so poignant is you can see the two men in the author's writing. Time after time he mentions all the beautiful memories and time wasted with his family as he seeks a treasure that cannot compare with what he already has. And yet like his Mr. Hyde personality he is obsessed, addicted and at the same time only there for the Arabia thus showing the conflict of man when given with what he has versus with what he can achieve - a beautiful contrast.

At the same time the book is beautifully given. Each "chapter" shows a map of the Arabia first covered in sand and then slowly revealed with each day's work/and or finds. The author then intersperses the writing with various pictures taken both at the actual site as well as the collection of pieces that have been set on display within the museum itself.

The photographs are also backed by various bits of historical trivia thrown in, stories of the past that relate both from the survivors as well as the people who lived the time and the various attempts that have led to the Arabia seeing light again. The list of what was found and made seen to the public although old is just amazing since not everything found was mentioned in the story.

A beautiful story and a beautiful heritage returned to the world of man in the end. And to be truthful it made me sad to see the picture of the Arabia being reclaimed back by the waters while it brought to me a flash of the Titanic being reclaimed by the ocean. Beauty can be snatched by the beast but sometimes it is the beast that makes beauty from the plain and everyday things that we take for granted.… (mehr)