Robert M. Poole

I have always been a fan of National Geographic. One of the very first things I did with part of my first paycheck, from my very first full-time job, was take out a subscription to the NG magazine, which I kept up for several years. The iconic yellow border was always, in my mind, a symbol of high quality photojournalism. And of course, it helped launch the career of Jane Goodall, one of my heroes, among many others.

I found this book to be a fascinating history of the Society and I learned show more so much that I never knew and never imagined, including some things I wish I hadn't known. I love that at the very beginning of the book, there is a family tree map that shows how the three families (Hubbard, Bell, and Grosvenor) came together to create this organization and how the direct line of this family-run, non-profit organization remained true for 5 generations, over 100 years .

I never knew that Alexander Graham Bell was even involved in the NGS, let alone a one-time president of it! I was somewhat shocked to find out just how close the ties were between the NGS and the government(s) of the early part of the twentieth century. "So many bylines from so many bureaucrats and military officials appeared in the magazine that it sometimes seemed like an extension of the government" . National Geographic cooperated and participated with the CIA and FBI, and supplied maps to the armed forces during both World Wars and several other wars, as well.

Worst of all, in my eyes, was the overt racism and bigotry that was evident in the early part of the 1900s among the top echelon of the NGS. Membership into the Society was restricted and denied to Blacks, there was blatant anti-Semitism and the elder Grosvenor was a Nazi sympathizer. There are even some passages quoting contributors to the magazine in those early days whose words ring in my ears today, and sound frighteningly like the current Washington administration. I find that terrifying.

This was a fascinating read, on many levels, even if it was not always a comfortable one. show less

A good work of non-fiction should be reader-friendly, full of well-organized information and annotated in a way that does not interfere with the flow of the narrative. Adding maps, photographs, and a couple thoughtful appendices will turn a good work of non-fiction into an excellent reference. Put all these elements together with a story-teller’s flair for drama and an enthusiast’s love of the subject matter, and the result is a great read, like On Hallowed Ground, the Story of Arlington show more National Cemetery. Robert Poole leads us from the early days of the American Civil War, when Robert E. Lee’s home above the Potomac River was occupied by Union forces; to the first military burials on the grounds of the former plantation; to the dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown in 1932; to September 11, 2001, when the peace of Arlington National Cemetery was shattered by the impact of a 757 slamming into the adjacent Pentagon. Along the way he relates innumerable heart-touching stories with the skill of a novelist, and imparts fascinating bits of factual information in full historical context. If you have visited Arlington, reading this book will add a dimension of understanding to the experience. If you haven’t, it will make you wish to. show less

As a veteran of the US Navy, married to another Navy veteran (and retiree), I went out of my way to track this book down. Both of us are at a point in our lives where the subject of funerals comes up often, and we have attended dozens of funerals at Arlington to honor friends and shipmates. One of our biggest questions has always been "where do we want to be buried?" My children both live within 10 miles of Arlington, and until we moved to Maine 6 years ago, I literally drove past rows and show more rows of graves on my way to work in Arlington every morning for 16 years. While I don't qualify for burial on my own (I didn't do enough time to retire), my husband does, so I rate burial there as his spouse. But we both had sort of taken it off the short list because it seemed so big and impersonal. In fact, my husband used to work in the Navy Annex building up the hill from the Pentagon and overlooking the cemetery, and then later at the Pentagon, and says he's not sure he wants to spend eternity in site of his old offices. It is a beautiful, quiet, well-maintained park like space to stroll through, but stay there forever? Hmmmm...

After reading Robert Poole's excellent story of the history, the sentiments, the politics, and the rich heritage of this glorious site, it's at least back in consideration.

In telling the story of the cemetery, Poole takes us on a short but surprisingly robust tour of the valor and service of Americans from every military conflict between the Civil War up to the present sad goings-on in Afghanistan and Iraq. We learn where the land came from, how it was originally used, and then the subsequent acts of Congress and presidential proclamations making it what it is today - THE National military cemetery. In addition, we learn about the U.S. Army's outstanding efforts over the years, and continuing today, to identify and repatriate the bodies of Americans who died on foreign soil.

Poole weaves numerous stories together: the family story of Robert E. Lee and his descendants who were the original owners of the property and their struggles after the Civil War to reclaim their family home; the story of the "father of Arlington National Cemetery" Brig Gen Montgomery C. Meigs; the story of the Lee's previous slaves -freedmen who stayed on the property long after the Civil War was over and the town they built; the individual stories showing the diversity of the many servicemen buried there; the building of the Memorial Bridge to signal a joining of the Union (Washington DC) with the defeated Confederacy (northern Virginia) leading directly into the cemetery (I think my brain always assumed it had just been there!); how the original Unknown Soldiers were chosen and the rigorous training and discipline of the Old Guard - the Army's elite unit who stand sentry duty 24/7 at the Tomb of the Unknowns; the story of the building of the Pentagon just before World War II; the story of the burial of the soldier who died in a nuclear reactor accident and whose body was so radioactive it had to be sealed in a lead coffin and buried in a concrete vault; and the conflict over the "unknown" from Vietnam who was subsequently disinterred, identified through DNA matching and re-buried near his home.

There were sections that were particularly personal to both of us. My husband actually sang with the Naval Academy Catholic Choir at Kennedy's funeral. Although I watched it on TV, it was fascinating to read of all the decisions that had to be made, and the hasty but well-handled arrangements needed to produce this ceremony.

I had to drive home on September 11th, 2001 passing the smoking Pentagon, threading my way carefully through thousands of dazed survivors wandering along the George Washington Parkway, all the time seeing nothing in my rear view mirror but a huge smoke cloud. Only later did we learn of the deaths of people we knew. Driving by Arlington after that became even more poignant, and to this day, neither of us (or anyone who lived there during that time) can see the site without seeing the smoke cloud in our minds. The excellent map in the front of the book provides a superb visual aid to explain how intertwined the cemetery graves are with the view from and around the Pentagon.

In all of these stories, woven into a cohesive whole, Poole's extensive and exhaustive research shines. He could easily have written over 1000 pages, but he chose to make this a more respectable (and readable!) size. His writing is so well-edited that it is extremely easy to read throughout. There are footnotes and bibliographic references for those who wish to delve deeper, but they never get in the way of his story. The reader is immediately aware of the reverence and respect he brought to this work, and those of us who are prospective inhabitants are deeply grateful for his expertise. show less

If you think that the history of a cemetery -- even a famous one -- wouldn't be all that interesting, think again. In the hands of Robert M. Poole, the story of Arlington National Cemetery emerges as a compelling microcosm of America and its history. I never realized how many aspects of American society have met (and occasionally have clashed) within the boundaries of that famous piece of property. From its founding during the Civil War when the property was confiscated from the family of show more rebel General Robert E. Lee (his wife had inherited a life-interest from her father, George Washington Parke Custis) through the burial of the most recent casualties in the War on Terror, Poole recounts the cemetery's story with a clear voice and shows us Arlington's proud place in American history.

This book seemed to get better the further I read in it. I had expected to be most interested in learning more details of the cemetery's background story -- how the government took the property from the Lee family -- but it's really the story of the Arlington property as cemetery which was most fascinating, and my pace of reading seemed to pick up as the cemetery developed.

Poole shows us how the process of recovering and identifying our war dead, and giving them due honor, has changed through the different wars our country has experienced. We see how issues of race and class have affected burials over the years as attitudes have changed, and how politics have often influenced what was done at Arlington. We see the development of rituals which are now part of the daily fabric of the cemetery.

Poole also shows us little-known details of watershed moments in US and Arlington National Cemetery history. We experience the stressful, hectic preparations for JFK's funeral and relive the ceremonies from a slightly different point of view; we learn details of the questionable burial and subsequent disinterment of the "Unknown Soldier" from the Vietnam War -- who was, it turns out, not so unknown after all; we see debris from the Pentagon scattering over the green lawns of Arlington on Sept. 11, 2001.

This book is thoroughly researched and the notes and index are extensive. There is wonderful detail regarding both the history and the ceremony of the place. Poole provides a clear, readable narrative with great nuggets of information, gems of stories, occasionally a little graveyard humor, and even room for some tears. I was surprised how moving the book was -- OK, it's a book about a cemetery, so I guess maybe that shouldn't surprise me. But let me be clear: Poole wasn't sappy in his writing, just very descriptive; but simple descriptions of the cemetery's time-honored rituals and the stories behind them can be very moving.

I most definitely recommend On Hallowed Ground to anyone who might be interested in the subject matter -- and even to some folks who might not initially think they'd find it interesting. show less