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

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!

It’s a good book, but I was hoping for more stories from other countries. I’ve read other books about untold stories concerning the US and knew most of the stories, but there were a few new ones to me. I think it’s an interesting book and would also be a good gift.

This is my go-to book as a teacher when I need to fill a few extra minutes in my classroom. It expands on stories we’ve all heard growing up and exposes myths and half-truths that we’ve believed for so long. Each story takes just a few minutes to read.

I saw this book at my daughters, she has it as a bathroom read. (Haha 😅). She has others also, anyway I started reading this book found it interesting. I decided to buy the book. They have others to the series I will be getting the rest.

Chances are that this collection of stories you have never heard of. And if you did, chances are that the date and facts are a bit confused as time has a habit of inducing. Not only can you read these marvelous stories, but there are over 200 illustrations that will allow you to see what the author has recreated. It begins with the 394 A>D> Olympics that were cancelled and ends with the man who created the browser and server in 1990, Tim Berners-Lee. And all this time Al Gore took credit for creating the web. Who would have thought. In between these two stories you will find many interesting occurences that will ignite your imagination as well as appreciation for little known facts. This book is a reader's holiday filled with joy and amazement.

Sitting by the window, holding this book together, that's how my daughter and I started our days in the summer.Each story is well written and artistically illustrated with historical photos and drawings, it looks pretty and tastes great like a piece of remarkably crafted chocolate.I never thought history could be so interesting. Although I skipped some pages for my daughter, such as the story of Count Vlad and some others which are not for children, this book tells us a lot of fascinating stories. I'm happy it seems that my daughter enjoyed it just as much as I did. Her favorite stories are the "Ba-Bump Goes the Stethoscope", "Eiffel or Eysore?", "Water World", "Tulipomania", and "The Colonel and the Note".A hard-to-find great book!

This book is not bad by any means but it is a little basic. Most of the tales are not that obscurer and they are discussed extremely briefly. If you are a big reader most of the stuff in here will not be new and will not add much to what you do know. That was the case for me anyway. Almost all of the "stories" were given only two pages that had lots of pictures. This is not the type of book for an avid reader or history lover.

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

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

Some interesting stories