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Publisher:
Perennial Currents / HarperCollins |
Release
Date: August 17, 2004 |
ISBN:
0060532505 |
Awards:
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Format
Reviewed: Trade Paperback |
Buy
it at Amazon |
Read
an Excerpt |
Genre:
Nonfiction |
Reviewed:
2004 |
Reviewer:
Patricia Aliventi |
Reviewer
Notes: |
Copyright
MyShelf.com |
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You Did What?
Mad
Plans and Great Historical Disasterssubtitle
By Bill Fawcett &
Brian Thomsen
Bill
Fawcett and Brian Thomsen set out to prove history can be funny
and succeed in "You Did What? Mad Plans and Great Historical
Disasters." Tackling every subject from the Trojan Horse to
the duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, to the introduction
of New Coke, they managed to bring a smile to history. Each of the
subjects is explained in as much detail and background as is possible
to squeeze into about five pages, giving a concise narrative of
just why someone should have known better than to even try something
like this.
The
book covers a huge time in history and highlights both well-known
goofs as well as the more obscure. Most of us can already figure
out the Watergate break-in wasn't a good idea. However, I'd never
known before reading this book that thirty years before the Panama
Canal was completed, someone else had tried to build the Canal and
failed miserably. I was also shocked to learn that Bruce Springsteen
was scheduled to be the opening act for Anne Murray one summer night
in Central Park, and she never got to go on since the crowd was
wild for him. The point is made that you generally should make sure
your opening act will not appear on the covers of Time and Newsweek
just days before your concert.
It's
a fun mixture of pop-culture and history, guaranteed to keep you
interested and feeling a bit superior - after all, none of us would
ever make a mistake like that.
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