Stupid History: Tales of Stupidity, Strangeness, and Mythconceptions Throughout the Ages (Volume 2)

Pretty entertaining, and I'm a sucker for historical misconceptions, but there are a few glaring problems with this book.

First, a couple of tales that he presents as "fact" are misleading. For example, an early tale in the book states that Lizzie Borden, famous axe murderer, was actually unanimously found innocent by the jury, implying that the famous rhyme about her is just a historical misconception. However, there is a big difference between a "not guilty" verdict and actual innocence. It is widely believed that her defense attorney was able to manipulate the sexist views held by jurors of the time (1893) to play into their view that there was no possible way this sweet young woman could have committed the crime. The judge also excluded her unsuccessful attempt to purchase cyanide shortly before the murders, and her entire original inquest testimony. At the time of her arrest, police noted that she was eerily calm and did not seem to exhibit any shock or sadness at the brutally axe-murdered bodies of her parents. In short, at best Borden's guilt is questionable, and it's certainly interesting that a jury found her innocent, but to present that verdict as a "look, she was actually innocent" tale is such an incomplete picture that it's dishonest.

Second, another of his supposed "facts" is in reality just a conservative rant about the Constitution disguised as fact. He states that there is no separation of church and state because that specific phrase does not appear anywhere in the Constitution, gives his own opinion on the policy justification for the establishment clause, then states that "no one, not even the courts, takes the time to read it." Yeah, okay. Clearly the members of the Supreme Court analyze and interpret the Constitution without even bothering to read what it is they are interpreting and Leland, a comedy writer, understands the Constitution better than they do. He's not a lawyer, he doesn't understand constitutional law, and he needs to knock it off with the backseat lawyering. The question of how far the language "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" should go is a thorny and controversial one, but no matter what your view, you can't just take your viewpoint (in his case, a strict constructionist one) and state it as fact. Aside from that, through the interpretation of the Supreme Court, the Constitution gives a whole lot of rights that are not explicitly stated, and in all likelihood were not contemplated by the founders. That whole "implied rights" thing, like the right to privacy, which came out of Griswold v. Connecticut and served as the basis for Lawrence v. Texas and Roe v. Wade. Whether you agree with them or not, under current US law, the Constitution does in fact provide us with these implied rights, even though the Constitution doesn't explicitly set them out.

Third, he doesn't cite authority. For anything. Considering his track record with the above tales, and the fact that he retold well-known urban legend 911 calls as actual 911 calls in some of his other books, I don't really trust all of his unsourced and unlikely stories as fact.

Despite all this, it's an entertaining book, and the majority of it may be true, hence the 2 stars rather than 1. I would just recommend taking the tales with a grain of salt unless you have the time to think about and verify them with your own research.

I usually read history books exclusively, but ran across this one and thought, "Why Not?" This was very funny as well as informative. You'll learn a lot and laugh a lot. All you fellow history buffs should lighten up and read this one.

The author presents a lot of little-known historical facts, anecdotes, and trivia in a lighthearted manner. Even self-proclaimed history geeks may learn a thing or two! I personally found the book entertaining, even with the author's occasional corny jokes mixed in. (And I do appreciate his explaining where the term "corny" originated!)

As a previous reviewer mentioned, some of the "facts" are only half-truths or plain incorrect. It would have been perfect had the sources the author used had been a little more solid. This would be crippling if the book was supposed to be taken seriously, but, lucky for us, it's just not that type of history book. I would recommend this!

I purchased this at my local Borders Books. Unintentionally. They had it up at the register, and being a history fanatic, and a fan of all things trivialesque & stupid, I impulsively purchased the book. I'm so glad I did. As another reviewer said, the book is full of everything from, "Oh, really?" to "OH WOW!" and very 'punny' jokes.

Totally worth the money. I'm glad it was on display, or otherwise I may have never known of it's existence.

ISBN 0740760548 [[ASIN:0740760548 Stupid History: Tales of Stupidity, Strangeness, and Mythconceptions Throughout the Ages]] - I love history. I love books that correct long-standing beliefs that are not true. That should put this book right up my alley. I'm inordinately sad that this book stinks.

Short paragraphs refute popular historical myths, share amusing anecdotes and trivia and are riddled with puns. There are one- and two-sentence notes, as well, generally a sort of page-filler.

History books like these are usually about things that happened in... you know, history. Technically, yes: yesterday is history, but in this context, history isn't usually last week. There are some items in this book that are, pretty much, last week. Those items are more a matter of interpretation than established fact, so there's not a lot of debunking room. On the older items, those that "refute popular myths," there's just too little substance here. Not only does the original story and the "correction" take up FAR less than a full page in a small book, but there's nothing here to back up author Leland Gregory's assertions. I've been able to fact check a few things online and in books but, seriously, isn't citing sources Gregory's job? Gregory does, however, do a fairly good job of repressing his own politics.

The "amusing anecdotes" are far more on target. Though they, too, would benefit from more text and some sources, they're just amusing enough to make it as they are. If you're looking for a more serious title that challenges what you think you know about history, try [[ASIN:156584100X Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong]].

- AnnaLovesBooks

Prior to reading this book, I had read a few others by Leland Gregory ([[ASIN:0740739026 Hey, Idiot!: Chronicles of Human Stupidity]], [[ASIN:0740726943 The Stupid Crook Book]], and [[ASIN:1558533729 America's Dumbest Criminals: Wild and Weird Stories of Fumbling Felons, Clumsy Crooks, and Ridiculous Robbers]]) and I laughed like I was drunk even though I was completely sober. I expected this one to be funny and though some of the stories were, for the most part, it isn't humorous.

That being said, I loved this book. I have always known that there are a lot of falsehoods in what we were all taught in school and what we hear about in general conversation. Some of what is talked about was actual a genuine surprise and others were less so. I actually did verify a few of the stories within, just to make sure and they were right on.

If you are looking for something to make you laugh, then this probably isn't what you're looking for. If you are looking for light, interesting reading or if you are someone who casts doubt on what the general populace accepts as fact, then you will find this book well worthwhile.

Good to read little snippets when there isn’t a lot of time

I didn't read the entire book, just glanced thru as I bought them for Christmas gifts and they were well received.

Excllent

fastenating