After their mother’s death, Lisa Tracy and her sister,
Jeanne, are left to contend with several households’ worth
of furniture and memorabilia, much of it accumulated during
their family’s many decades of military service in far-flung
outposts from the American frontier to the World War Two–era
Pacific. In this engaging and deeply moving book, Tracy
chronicles the wondrous interior life of those possessions
and discovers that the roots of our passion for acquisition
often lie not in shallow materialism but in our desire to
possess the most treasured commodity of all: a connection to
the past.nnWhat starts as an exercise in information
gathering designed to boost the estate’s resale value at
auction evolves into a quest that takes Lisa Tracy from her
New Jersey home to the Philippines and, ultimately, back to
the town where she grew up. These travels open her eyes to a
rich family history characterized by duty, hardship, honor,
and devotion—qualities embodied in the very items she
intends to sell. Here is an inventory unlike any other:
silver gewgaws, dueling pistols that once belonged to Aaron
Burr (no, not those pistols), a stately storage chest from
Boxer Rebellion–era China, providentially recovered family
documents, even a chair in which George Washington may or
may not have sat—each piece cherished and passed down to
Lisa’s generation as an emblem of who her forebears were,
what they had done, and where they had been. Each is
cataloged here with all the richness and intimacy that only
a family member could bring to the endeavor.nn“Even as we
know we should be winnowing, we’re wallowing,” observes Lisa
Tracy in one of her characteristically trenchant
observations about America’s abiding obsession with “stuff.”
A paean to the pack rat in us all, Objects of Our Affection
offers an offbeat and intriguing mix of cultural
anthropology, Antiques Roadshow Americana, and military
history and lore, as well as a thoughtful meditation on the
emotional resonance of objects—what they mean and the
oh-so-fascinating stories they tell.
Lisa I have put your book on my list for book club febr in Nebraska. I LOVED YOUR BOOK...I have plan of inviting my antique collector friends and ordering copies of your book to share with them as well. I read it in 2 nights...maybe it was right up my pack rat alley. Yesterday however I sold the family silver no one wanted and I couldn't part with. Everything I own from gene autrys autograph to silver no one wants has an attachment, I LOVED YOUR BOOK...the attachment to the book reviews and the collectors I think it should be out there and moving along..I wish you weren't so far away love to meet you..DELIGHTFUL BOOK...your descriptions held my interest..cheryl (Cheryl Miller 3:58pm September 15, 2010)
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