A Treasury of Great American Scandals (41 page)

 

Damon, Allan L. “The Great Red Scare.”
American Heritage.
February 1968.

McCracken, Brooks W. “Althea and the Judges.”
American Heritage.
June 1967.

I want to thank, as always, my wonderfully supportive family and friends; my agent, Jenny Bent; my editor, Caroline White, and the folks at Penguin; my guru, Ann Marie Lynch; and a good man named Joe McLellan.

I also appreciate the assistance of some fine historians, especially Thomas J. Dodd and Jack D. Warren. Finally, I thank Gene Weingarten of the
Washington Post
for everything.

In this lively, compulsively browsable collection, Michael Farquhar has scoured the annals and rescued thirty of the most intriguing, unusual, and yes, memorable Americans from obscurity. From the mother of Mother's Day to Paul Revere's rival rider, the
Mayflower
murderer to “America's Sherlock Holmes,” these figures are more than historical runners up—they're the spies, explorers, patriots, and martyrs without whom history as we know it would be very different indeed
.

 

We may say that honesty is the best policy, but history—to say nothing of business, politics, and the media—suggests otherwise. In this infinitely citable book, Michael Farquhar recounts some of the greatest deceptions of all time.With what forged document did theVatican lay claim to much of Europe? Who wrote Hitler's diaries? Why do millions still believe the vague doggerel that Nostradamus passed off as prophecy? Organizing his material by theme (con artists, the press, military trickery, scientific fraud, imposters, great escapes, and more), Farquhar takes in everything from the hoodwinking of Hitler to Vincent “the Chin” Gigante's thirty-year crazy act.
A Treasury of Deception
is a zestful, gossipy exposé—and celebration—of mendacity.

 

From ancient Rome to Edwardian England, from the lavish rooms of Versailles to the dankest corners of the Bastille, the great royals of Europe have excelled at savage parenting, deadly rivalry, pathological lust, and meeting death with the utmost indignity—or just very bad luck. Gleeful, naughty, sometimes perverted—like so many of the crowned heads themselves—
A Treasury of Royal Scandals
is a wickedly delightful look at the most scandalous royal doings you never learned about in history class.