|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
|
Product Description
Review
“Surprising…the essentials of fascinating stories are here.” (Dallas Morning News )
“100 stories you haven’t heard will delight in knowing.…Lively, offbeat and surprising in quick-hit snippets.” (Denver Rocky Mountain News )
“History like you’ve never read it before…Amusing.” (The Tennessean )
Book Description
History isn't always made by great armies colliding or by great civilizations rising or falling. Sometimes it's made when a chauffeur takes a wrong turn, a scientist forgets to clean up his lab, or a drunken soldier gets a bit rowdy. That's the kind of history you'll find in The Greatest Stories Never Told.
This is history candy -- the good stuff. Here are 100 tales to astonish, bewilder, and stupefy: more than two thousand years of history filled with courage, cowardice, hope, triumph, sex, intrigue, folly, humor, and ambition. It's a historical delight and a visual feast with hundreds of photographs, drawings, and maps that bring each story to life. A new discovery waits on every page: stories that changed the course of history and stories that affected what you had for breakfast this morning.
Consider:
- The Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock because they ran out of beer
- Some Roman officials were so corrupt that they actually stole time itself
- Three cigars changed the course of the Civil War
- The Scottish kilt was invented by an Englishman
Based on the popular Timelab 2000® history minutes hosted by Sam Waterston on The History Channel®, this collection of fascinating historical tidbits will have you shaking your head in wonder and disbelief. But they're all true. And you'll soon find yourself telling them to your friends.
The early Romans used the moon as a measure of the months. Read the first page
Concordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not what I'd usually buy,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Greatest Stories Never Told: 100 Tales from History to Astonish, Bewilder, and Stupefy (Hardcover)
I don't usually veer into the land of "interesting facts" books, choosing instead to buy some tried and true bestseller like "Angels & Demons" or "The Bark of the Dogwood" instead. So it was with trepedation that I purchased this book. Boy, am I glad I did! This is fantastic! Forget what you learned (or didn't) in school--this is the way to go. Some really, really fascinating things in here and you can astonish your friends and family with these juicy tidbits. Informative and well written, this book also makes a GREAT gift.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Obscure History 101,
By Jennifer G (Rhode Island) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Greatest Stories Never Told: 100 Tales from History to Astonish, Bewilder, and Stupefy (Hardcover)
This was an interesting book and a quick read. However, each item only has one page (one side) of information, and this book would have earned a five star review from me if only the content was a bit more fleshed out. Still, a great book for the beginner trivia buff.
5.0 out of 5 stars
200 Pages of WOW!,
By
This review is from: The Greatest Stories Never Told: 100 Tales from History to Astonish, Bewilder, and Stupefy (Hardcover)
In the past, I have typically not been one for advocating the idea of revising history as we know it, but this book has caused me to wonder if the lessons from the past that have been taught to so many of us have amounted to a series of partially distorted articles, at best, or a pack of lies, at worst.In one account, there was a leading nineteenth-century American literary figure who wrote a fictional work on one of the most famous explorers from the late 1400's. It portrayed this particular individual as mainly a visionary who overcame the superstitions of his time in order to make great discoveries. Though this picture might be partly true, a key issue brought forth was entirely fictional. Nevertheless, this particular book became very popular as a required reading for schoolchildren and over time, because of the heroic elements espoused, the tales were so popular that people wanted to believe them to be factual. Since then, this author's version of this explorer's events "would long endure in the national consciousness" and be immortalized as history as it actually happened. Talk about a paradox: to be regarded as someone who would go down in history as someone who overcame myths in such a way that it, itself, is another myth. Sheesh!! Though many a fact finder might wish that this particular legend could be isolated as the only fairy tale that has been misconstrued for truth, The Greatest Stories Never Told reveals to the reader that this is not so. There are other accounts that show that our significant historical events are not always due to forthright purposes set out by forthcoming, stout individuals. Sometimes random elements come into play à la The Butterfly Effect that can have a significant impact upon the outcome of a war. For instance, without giving away the details, so little as one piece of paper might have prevented General George Washington's rise to greatness against the British. In sum, The Greatest Stories Never Told is a fascinating book. In my opinion, it can set forth arguments and debates covering other specialized fields, especially philosophy, political science, physics, and theology. I have always been convinced that we have a tendency to portray history the way we want to either remember it or learn it, but the manner in which some of these bits and pieces have been espoused for decades and centuries is quite disturbing.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
Most recent customer reviews |
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
- Books > History > Historical Study > Reference
- Books > History > Military
- Books > Nonfiction > Education > Reference > Fun Facts > Curiosities & Wonders
- Books > Reference > Fun Facts > Curiosities & Wonders
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
|
