Gods, Mongrels, and Demons: 101 Brief But Essential Lives [Hardcover]

Angus Calder (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 17, 2004

Endlessly entertaining and meticulously compiled, Gods, Mongrels, and Demons is a delightful alternative Who's Who.

Inspired by the author's belief that "oddballs, headbangers, saints, nutters, philosophers, freaks and such like deserve to be drawn away from the periphery to the center" of our consciousness, Gods, Mongrels, and Demons uses the famous, the infamous, and the apparently marginal to tell us more about ourselves and our cultures than we'd find in the usual history book fare.

In what other single volume could you find such eminent figures as the Japanese poet Basho; Ruth Handler, inventor of the Barbie doll; and the modernist artist Kurt Schwitters? Where else would Babe Ruth, Billie Holiday and Ludwig Wittgenstein rub shoulders with the likes of Anansi, Ganesh, the Queen of Sheba, the King of the Gypsies, Billy the Kid, and a Top Secret carrier pigeon named Winkie? Not to mention Henri Cochet - the sublime playboy tennis star who found himself two sets and fifteen-love down in the third set of the Wimbledon men's semifinal in 1927 and went on to win the championship.

Not merely informative but also beautifully produced, featuring original lettering by Jeff Fisher, Gods, Mongrels, and Demons is the perfect way to chase off the winter blues.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this fascinating and idiosyncratic reference work, social historian Calder (The People's War: Britain 1939-1945) gathers together brief biographies of "creatures who have extended my sense of the potentialities, both comic and tragic, of human nature." Unlike the usual subjects of biographies, the figures Calder chooses are not all people with brilliant, public careers, but rather people (and gods and mongrels) who have lived unusual lives. The book mingles the high with the low and the good with the bad. The jazz musician Lester Young, for example, shares pages with the 19th-century criminal Sheik Adam, who ingeniously escaped from a prison on the island of Mauritius. Ludwig Wittgenstein is commemorated along with Vera Delf, whom Calder describes as "a belated Victorian heroine of the British peace movement." The Devil himself gets an entry four pages later. Though Calder's work bursts with facts and dates, his prose is never dry or plodding. Charming and well designed, this biographical dictionary is a pleasure to dip into for both entertainment and inspiration.
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Review

'Calder's characters and their motivations are quirky, murky and possibly deranged, but these brief lives deserve to flare brightly again for anyone interested in seeing what stokes the fire of human endeavour' Christopher Fowler, Independent on Sunday 'Stimulating and hugely entertaining ... an ideal bedside or bathside companion' Scotland on Sunday 'A book of diversions, in all the meanings of that word: an amusement, a variation, a turning-away from the grand narrative of history to meandering by-ways and cul-de-sacs God, Mongrels and Demons is disarmingly charming for a radical's rallying call' Scotsman 'A carnivalesque read, backed up by the depth of his research and the rigour of his intellect. It's also related with all the beguiling charm and conviction of a snake-oil vendor Calder is a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles that he skilfully transmutes into worthwhile knowledge' Glasgow Herald --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA; First edition (January 17, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582344310
• ISBN-13: 978-1582344317
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,880,368 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Muddled soup, September 14, 2004

By 

D. MacGowan "Hopeless Bibliophile" (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Gods, Mongrels, and Demons: 101 Brief But Essential Lives (Hardcover)

Calder gets points for picking an interesting array of subjects for his biography, but his approach to each individual is somewhat confusing in the best of the entries. I found myself having to go back in many instances to follow the trail of breadcrumbs Calder left: names and events appear before we've been properly introduced (giving me the impression Calder had talked about them previously and I should already know who/what he is talking about -- which was not always the case).