History isn't always made by great armies colliding or by great civilizations rising or falling. Sometimes it's made when a chauffeur takes a wrong turn, a scientist forgets to clean up his lab, or a drunken soldier gets a bit rowdy. That's the kind of history you'll find in The Greatest Stories Never Told.
This is history candy -- the good stuff. Here are 100 tales to astonish, bewilder, and stupefy: more than two thousand years of history filled with courage, cowardice, hope, triumph, sex, intrigue, folly, humor, and ambition. It's a historical delight and a visual feast with hundreds of photographs, drawings, and maps that bring each story to life. A new discovery waits on every page: stories that changed the course of history and stories that affected what you had for breakfast this morning.
Consider:
<ul>
<li>The Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock because they ran out of beer</li>
<li>Some Roman officials were so corrupt that they actually stole time itself</li>
<li>Three cigars changed the course of the Civil War</li>
<li>The Scottish kilt was invented by an Englishman</li>
</ul>
Based on the popular Timelab 2000® history minutes hosted by Sam Waterston on The History Channel®, this collection of fascinating historical tidbits will have you shaking your head in wonder and disbelief. But they're all true. And you'll soon find yourself telling them to your friends.

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

Biographies & Memoirs

Beyer, Rick

Arts & Literature

Harper

Search the annals of military history and you will discover no end of quirky characters and surprising true stories: The topless dancer who saved the Byzantine Empire. The World War I battle that was halted so a soccer game could be played. The scientist who invented a pigeon-guided missile in 1943. And don't forget the elderly pig whose death triggered an international crisis between the United States and Great Britain.
This is the kind of history you'll find in The Greatest War Stories Never Told. One hundred fascinating stories drawn from two thousand years of military history, accompanied by a wealth of photographs, maps, drawings, and documents that help bring each story to life. Little-known tales told with a one-two punch of history and humor that will make you shake your head in disbelief -- but they're all true!
Did You Know That:
<ul>
<li>One military unit served on both sides during the Civil War</li>
<li>The War of Jenkins's Ear was actually fought over a sea captain's ear</li>
<li>Daniel Boone was once tried for treason</li>
<li>A siege on Poland in 1519 gave birth to the marriage of bread and butter</li>
</ul>
Discover how war can be a catalyst for change; an engine for innovation; and an arena for valor, deceit, intrigue, ambition, revenge, audacity, folly, and even silliness. Want to know how the mafia helped the United States win World War II, when the word bazooka was coined, or how Silly Putty was invented? Read on!

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

Humor & Entertainment

Puzzles & Games

What most of us don't know about our presidents could fill a book—and this just happens to be that book! From the archives of The History Channel® comes a treasure trove of quirky presidential history that will truly astonish, bewilder, and stupefy. Like Abraham Lincoln's duel or Jimmy Carter's UFO sighting . . . and let's not forget about the president who went skinny-dipping in the Potomac every day!
That's the kind of presidential history you'll find in The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told: One hundred little-known stories to make you shake your head in wonder. If you want to find out how "Hail to the Chief" came to be the president's song, why the Oval Office isn't square, which president saved the game of football, and why Washington, D.C., could have been named Hertburn, this is the book for you.
Did You Know About:
<ul>
<li>The custody battle that made George Washington an American?</li>
<li>The counterfeiters who tried to steal Lincoln's body?</li>
<li>The woman who brought down Andrew Jackson's cabinet?</li>
<li>The man who was president for a day?</li>
</ul>
You know what makes the presidents famous, but it's the stuff you don't know that makes them interesting. A feast of fascinating presidential tidbits awaits.

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

Historical

Rick Beyer, the author of the acclaimed History Channel® series The Greatest Stories Never Told, returns with new historic tales, this time focusing on amazing stories of invention and discovery, in The Greatest Science Stories Never Told. Illustrated with photographs from around the globe, The Greatest Science Stories Never Told tells of inventors both famous and forgotten, and zeroes in on eureka! moments in science and history that changed our world forever.

The Greatest Science Stories Never Told: 100 tales of invention and discovery to astonish, bewilder, and stupefy (The Greatest Stories Never Told)

History

Historical Study & Educational Resources

"Fullof tasty morsels.A delightful book to arm one for thenext dull cocktail party.” —Chicago Tribune
RickBeyer, author of the highly successful History Channel series The GreatestStories Never Told returns with new historic tales from the world ofmusic—ennobling, entrancing and inevitably surprising stories of soaringgenius, tantalizing scandal, nefarious intrigue, and, above all, unbridledpassion for music. Perfect for fans of The Mental Floss History of theUnited States or Bill Bryson’s Made in America, Beyer’s GreatestMusic Stories Never Told is “history like you've never read itbefore." (The Tennessean)

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

Arts & Photography

History & Criticism

From the bestselling author of The Greatest Stories Never Told series, the epic history of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr's illustrious and eccentric political careers and their fateful rivalry. The famous duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr was the culmination of a story three decades in the making. Rivals unto Death vividly traces their rivalry back to the earliest days of the American Revolution, when Hamilton and Burr--both brilliant, restless, and barely twenty years old--elbowed their way onto the staff of General George Washington. The fast-moving account traces their intricate tug-of war, uncovering surprising details that led to their deadly encounter through battlefields, courtrooms, bedrooms, and the wildest presidential election in history, counting down the years to their fateful rendezvous on the dueling ground. This is politics made personal: shrill accusations, bruising collisions, and a parade of flesh and blood founders struggling--and often failing--to keep their tempers and jealousies in check. Smoldering in the background was a fundamental political divide that threatened to tear the new nation in two, and still persists to this day. The Burr and Hamilton that leap out of these pages are passionate, engaging, and utterly human characters inextricably linked together as Rivals unto Death.

Rivals Unto Death: Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr

Grand Central Publishing

A string of Decorative Fish, carved from sassafras, makes a perfect accent for rustic interiors. The fish are beautifully carved using both their bark and smooth surfaces. The chain that they are hanging from truly resembles the real stringers used for fishing. This unique piece is bound to be a source of entertaining conversation. This furniture is constructed from solid cedar, which is naturally resistant to decay and insect damage. As will all log furniture, it is subject to the natural process of checking, which occurs as the wood releases moisture, and normally happens across or through the annual growth rings. All unfinished pieces will weather gently to an attractive gray color. If you prefer the ripe wood color, these pieces can painted, stained or lacquered to prevent the natural color change.

Decorative Fish Carving

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Crafts & Hobbies

Tab Books

History isn't always made by great armies colliding or by great civilizations rising or falling. Sometimes it's made when a chauffeur takes a wrong turn, a scientist forgets to clean up his lab, or a drunken soldier gets a bit rowdy. That's the kind of history you'll find in The Greatest Stories Never Told. This is history candy -- the good stuff. Here are 100 tales to astonish, bewilder, and stupefy: more than two thousand years of history filled with courage, cowardice, hope, triumph, sex, intrigue, folly, humor, and ambition. It's a historical delight and a visual feast with hundreds of photographs, drawings, and maps that bring each story to life. A new discovery waits on every page: stories that changed the course of history and stories that affected what you had for breakfast this morning. Consider: The Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock because they ran out of beer Some Roman officials were so corrupt that they actually stole time itself Three cigars changed the course of the Civil War The Scottish kilt was invented by an Englishman Based on the popular Timelab 2000 history minutes hosted by Sam Waterston on The History Channel, this collection of fascinating historical tidbits will have you shaking your head in wonder and disbelief. But they're all true. And you'll soon find yourself telling them to your friends.

The Greatest Stories Never Told

MJF_Books

"The Ghost Army of World War II describes a perfect example of a little-known, highly imaginative, and daring maneuver that helped open the way for the final drive to Germany. It is a riveting tale told through personal accounts and sketches along the way—ultimately, a story of success against great odds. I enjoyed it enormously." – Tom Brokaw In the summer of 1944, a handpicked group of young GIs—including such future luminaries as Bill Blass, Ellsworth Kelly, Arthur Singer, Victor Dowd, Art Kane, and Jack Masey—landed in France to conduct a secret mission. Armed with truckloads of inflatable tanks, a massive collection of sound-effects records, and more than a few tricks up their sleeves, their job was to create a traveling road show of deception on the battlefields of Europe, with the German Army as their audience. From Normandy to the Rhine, the 1,100 men of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, known as the Ghost Army, conjured up phony convoys, phantom divisions, and make-believe headquarters to fool the enemy about the strength and location of American units. Between missions the artists filled their duffel bags with drawings and paintings and dragged them across Europe. Every move they made was top secret and their story was hushed up for decades after the war's end. The Ghost Army of World War II is the first publication to tell the full story of how a traveling road show of artists wielding imagination, paint, and bravado saved thousands of American lives.

The Ghost Army of World War II: How One Top-Secret Unit Deceived the Enemy with Inflatable Tanks, Sound Effects, and Other Audacious Fakery

Sayles, Elizabeth

Military

Princeton Architectural Press

"A riveting tale told through personal accounts and sketches along the way--ultimately, a story of success against great odds. I enjoyed it enormously." --Tom Brokaw The first book to tell the full story of how a traveling road show of artists wielding imagination, paint, and bravado saved thousands of American lives--now updated with new material. In the summer of 1944, a handpicked group of young GIs--artists, designers, architects, and sound engineers, including such future luminaries as Bill Blass, Ellsworth Kelly, Arthur Singer, Victor Dowd, Art Kane, and Jack Masey--landed in France to conduct a secret mission. From Normandy to the Rhine, the 1,100 men of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, known as the Ghost Army, conjured up phony convoys, phantom divisions, and make-believe headquarters to fool the enemy about the strength and location of American units. Every move they made was top secret, and their story was hushed up for decades after the war's end. Hundreds of color and black-and-white photographs, along with maps, official memos, and letters, accompany Rick Beyer and Elizabeth Sayles's meticulous research and interviews with many of the soldiers, weaving a compelling narrative of how an unlikely team carried out amazing battlefield deceptions that saved thousands of American lives and helped open the way for the final drive to Germany. The stunning art created between missions also offers a glimpse of life behind the lines during World War II.&nbsp; This updated edition includes: <ul> <li>A new afterword by co-author Rick Beyer</li> <li>Never-before-seen additional images</li> <li>The successful campaign to have the unit awarded a Congressional Gold Medal</li> </ul> &nbsp; History and WWII enthusiasts will find The Ghost Army of World War II an essential addition to their library.

The Ghost Army of World War II: How One Top-Secret Unit Deceived the Enemy with Inflatable Tanks, Sound Effects, and Other Audacious Fakery (Updated Edition)

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Books by Beyer, Rick