The Greatest Stories Never Told: 100 Tales from History to Astonish, Bewilder, and Stupefy

Terrific book for someone who loves to soak up info and read a good yarn. Thanks it was the perfect gift!

Some interesting stories

This book is for children, it is not a good or interesting read for adults. Bought it as a xmas present and will not be giving it.

Very interesting if you are into interesting facts

A lot of interesting tidbits that your teachers, especially history/social studies ones, used to tell you when they went off on small tangents. Although I knew quite a few of these things already, there was quite a lot of information that I had never heard of. A fun and quick read for those interested in quirky, interesting and little known things about history.

Good

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.

The media could not be loaded.  My husband loves history but isn’t always a huge fan of reading, so this was perfect! The stories are interesting and bite sized. A really nice book to have in our collection!