How George Washington Fleeced the Nation: And Other Little Secrets Airbrushed From History

by Phil Mason

Overview

Our view of the famous is one-dimensional—leading figures from history are summarized in history textbooks with one or two lines: Churchill the war-time genius, Gandhi the poor ascetic—but nobody is perfect and even the famous have their quirks and hidden secrets. How George Washington Fleeced the Nation reveals the often hilarious, sometimes shocking, and always highly informative foibles of the great and the good. Einstein, the most brilliant man who lived, regularly forgot his shoes and never learned to drive. Hitler possibly has a Jewish ancestor. Picasso avoided paying restaurant bills by doodling on their napkins instead. Prepared to be shocked, amused, and outraged at what they didn’t teach you in high school.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781628730852
Publisher:	Skyhorse
Publication date:	09/01/2010
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Phil Mason has amassed one of the world’s largest private collections of cuttings and books chronicling bizarre stories. He is the author of Mission Accomplished! and How George Washington Fleeced the Nation. He lives in England.

Table of Contents

Introduction vii

1 History's Heroes-Hits or Myths? 1

2 Politics-Dark Arts Getting Darker 50

3 America - (Uh) Oh America! 98

4 War - Nasty Realities 121

5 Royalty - Regal Façades 154

6 Science - New Discoveries 175

7 Reputations - The Unexpected 188

8 Arts - Unvarnished Truths 212

Index 255

Editorial Reviews

Mason, who rose to fame for tackling Napoleon's hemorrhoids, has fashioned himself into something of a historical tattler. Washington's big sin, it seems, was a carelessness with money, both his own and the nation's, and a greed for land that occasionally flouted the law. Amid the myth-busting "other little secrets" are tales of a cancer battle that left President Cleveland with a rubber jaw and the assertion that Lyndon Johnson was involved with the Kennedy assassination. Some stories included here are not quite as airbrushed as Mason may think; Hitler's Jewish ancestry and JFK's chronic womanizing are not exactly secrets. Still, there are mysteries to ponder and images to be shattered. Readers' eyebrows may rise at some of Mason's assertions; for instance, if his claims about Mahatma Gandhi are accurate, the world was duped into believing a well-crafted myth about a power-hungry narcissist. Few illustrious names are spared; even the innocuous Louis Pasteur is scrutinized for stealing the formula for a sheep vaccine from another scientist. It's a diverting read, and whether or not these tales are true or turn out to be myths themselves, Mason has crafted a provocative collection of secrets. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly