Legends & Lies Of World History [Paperback]

While not exactly revisionist history as scholars define it, this is a breezy, entertaining, if occasionally too flippant, attempt to clear up many popular misconceptions. Shenkman ( Legends, Lies and Cherished Myths of American History ) here tackles such events as the Trojan War (the one described by Homer didn't take place) and Churchill's stirring radio speeches during World War II (they were performed by an actor). Some of the purported revelations--about the numerous contradictions in the Bible and the bad rap given to Machiavelli--are hardly news. Others, like the faking of newsreels in the first half of this century and the fact that Voltaire made up the boast "I am the state," generally attributed to Louis XIV, will surprise many. Fun to read. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Was there really a valiant little Dutch boy, a protesting Lady Godiva, a fiddling Nero, or a prudish Queen Victoria? No, says Shenkman in his latest debunking effort. The historian roams the globe and the pages of history, calling up popular images and replacing them with more prosaic accounts and the reasons the mythic versions evolved in the first place. No person, event, or thing is safe from Shenkman's corrections; among his topics are Cleopatra, Scottish kilts, Copernicus, the Middle Ages, World War II, marriage, and Frankenstein. Denise Perry Donavin --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Bestselling author of Legends, Lies & Cherished Myths of American History now takes on the world! Skewering the nonsense we were all taught about the world's revolutions, religions, heroes, and inventors, Legends, Lies & Cherished Myths of World History is a whirlwind tour of history from the Trojan War to World War II. Eclectic and fun, Richard Shenkman's well-documented revelations prove that muck of history is indeed "but a fable agreed upon."

• Queen Victoria may have usually worn black, but she loved to drink and party.

• During World War II the English were conned into believing it was Winston Churchill who broadcast the speech about this being their finest hour. But it wasn't Churchill, it was Norman Shelley, a radio actor hired as a stand-in.

• Marie Antoinette did not say, "Let them eat cake," Churchill didn't coin the phrase "the Iron Curtain," and Caesar never said, "Et tu, Brute?"

• Scandal in the English monarchy is nothing new: Fifteen kings fathered children out of wedlock. One queen helped depose her husband so her lover could take his place. Three English kings were gay.

Richard Shenkman is the New York Times bestselling author of five history books, including Legends, Lies & Cherished Myths of American History, "I Love Paul Revere, Whether He Rode or Not," and One-Night Stands with American History, which he co-authored. Educated at Vassar and Harvard, he is an Emmy Award-winning investigator reporter and the former managing editor of the news department at the CBS-TV affiliate in Seattle. Most recently he was the host, writer, and producer of a prime-time series on the Learning Channel and before that was a regular contributor to the NBC Sunday Today show.