Portage Township (IN) (Images of America) (ISBN 0738523224)

nice idea but poor execution:
The local histories of both the city of Portage and Portage Township in general have never been well covered in regional history books. The Portage Community Historical Society's series of booklets covering individual aspects of of the place's history ceased before much was covered. There is a gap in local history coverage just waiting to be filled. Unfortunately this book does not take care of it. Arcadia books vary widely in their usefulness. Some of their Chicagoland and Indiana books have done wonderful jobs of picturing and interpreting the past. Others have been incomplete in their photographic or textual fulfillment of their stated goals but have been useful nonetheless. This Portage Township book however, I fear, has done more harm than good by being filled with errors. I spotted four dozen on my first read through. This is unconscionable, particularly for a work claiming to be a history. I understand that covering the whole history of a place is a big job and that errors from earlier works tend to creep in. A couple minor goofs are not the problem here. These authors appear unfamiliar with most of the previous books about their region. They make a number of startling claims about Portage Township's past without even seeming to realize the import of what they are saying. In fact they appear to occasionally even say the opposite of what they mean. Unfortunately the sources for none of their facts are cited so the rest of us are left unable to check out their undetailed stories. Likewise the sources of none of their images are credited, although many of them have simply been copied out of earlier books, which is why some have those reprint bar patterns. It appears that one of these writers is not even familiar with parts of his township as he writes about them. A simple drive down several of the roads he mentions should show anyone who is observant that things claimed are simply not true. It was very nice for the authors to pass along their profits to their local historical society, although I believe it was a mistake for that society to allow their name to be attached to this. I understand that neither author is a professional historian or writer. Fine. That is no excuse for what appear to be a lot of fictional tales now to have been passed along as facts. One of the author's feelings, on the topic of local history, shocks me. "Local myths and legends always make for good stories, and Portage Township is not without its own." I do object to the implicit claim that myths are more interesting than history, as well as that lies are automatically good stories. Arcadia books are picture books. Room for historical explanations is limited to two pages at the beginning of each chapter and then a caption under each image. Ok. Given that, I find it rather sad that so much space in the later chapters is given over to C of C type contemporary boosterism, even some of that not being accurate. I realize that I here am not backing up my claims any more than this book's authors did. So be it. For me to go into each of my specific objections to parts of this book would require ten times this much space -- a tedious essay which I assume would not be welcome here. There are a number of competently assembled books about this region, including a new one. None of them center on Portage Township but, even so, they have just as much history of Portage Township in them as this book does. I suggest those interested in local history buy a different book and those interested in images of Portage Township buy the PCHS's postcard packs.