65. How Maryland saved Washington ... and the country | with Chris Formant

To know where you’re going, you have to have an understanding of – and an appreciation for – where you’ve been.    Publisher and activist Marcus Garvey said, “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” And Michael Crichton, the bestselling author of Jurassic Park and Westworld, said, “If you don’t know history, then you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree.”   Why are our two favorite quotes about history also about trees? Who knows. But these quotes encapsulate what we’re going to be discussing on today’s episode: a glimpse back at a little-known but hugely important event in this nation’s history and the role that little-old Maryland played in that event.   Our guest, Chris Formant, is a businessman by trade – a former top executive of a multi-billion-dollar global business and now the CEO of a technology company – but more to the point for this episode, he’s the author of a riveting new book called Saving Washington: The Forgotten Story of the Maryland 400 and the Battle of Brooklyn.   It’s a piece of historical fiction; all of the events in the book actually happened, but they are told through the eyes of two fictional characters who give life to an event that most people know little or nothing about. And we can really learn a lot about history, and the present, through their eyes.   To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog.   Resources: ChrisFormant.com Read: Saving Washington: The Forgotten Story of the Maryland 400 and the Battle of Brooklyn Instagram: instagram.com/chrisformant Twitter: twitter.com/cmformant LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/christopherformant Learn more at MACPA.org/future-learning Future-Proof is a production of Crate Media