Stupid American History: Tales of Stupidity, Strangeness, and Mythconceptions

New York Times Bestseller: Welcome to the land of the free, the home of the brave—and, apparently, the dumb, bizarre, and gullible . . .

 Did you know that . . .

*John Tyler was on his knees playing marbles when he was informed that Benjamin Harrison had died and he was now president of the United States

*For reasons still unknown, Texas congressman Thomas Lindsay Blanton, a Presbyterian Sunday school teacher and prohibitionist, inserted dirty words into the Congressional Record in 1921—for which his colleagues officially censured him by a vote of 293-0

*Two US presidents were indentured servants—and one of them ran away and wound up with a $10 reward posted for his capture

From Columbus to George W. Bush, the bestselling coauthor of America’s Dumbest Criminals leads us through the many mythconceptions of our nation’s history in this lively book, exposing lots of entertaining moments of idiocy and inanity along the time line.

jacobjc
5.0 out of 5 stars 
Completely amusing and most of the time interesting
Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2011
Verified Purchase
So here is a confession about me. I am a wee bit of a dork. I absolutely love history. With that said I jumped on the opportunity to read Stupid American History: Tales of Stupidity, Strangeness, and Mythconceptions by Leland Gregory. I absolutely loved reading this and finished it in about 2 days. This book is full of little facts that make you think about what really happened in our past and what is happening now that will be looked at in another 100 years as stupid, strange or as myths.
My only negative comment about this book is not really a negative comment at all. Some of the facts seemed a little too out there. I would love to see how Leland Gregory researched these facts. Where did he find his information?
If you are one of those people who always liked the Kennedy-Lincoln coincidences then you will love this book. At minimum it is worth a read for the laughs you will get at some of our countries past-leaders

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