Following on his acclaimed Lucy's Bones, Sacred Stones, and Einstein's Brain, the insatiably curious Harvey Rachlin tells the fascinating and often hilarious tales of forty more historical artifacts, ranging from the obscure to the majestic. Each of these objects is a tangible piece of history with its own story to tell, a story that opens a window to the past, giving us a glimpse into the time from which it came and the people whose lives it affected. After three blockbuster specials in 1998, History's Lost and Found, based on Rachlin's writing, premiered on the History Channel as a weekly prime-time show in October 1999 and immediately took off. The show is scheduled to air daily in October 2000. Whether tracing the path of the four existing original copies of the Magna Carta or recounting the mad police search to recover Marilyn Monroe's white dress from The Seven Year Itch, Rachlin presents a wonderfully diverse range of tales of historical artifacts.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In an irresistible, edifying romp through the centuries, Rachlin uses artifacts as portals to the past as he skips from a venerated tooth preserved in a Sri Lankan temple, believed to have come from Buddha's mouth, to the metal folding table on which the Japanese signed WWII surrender documents in 1945 and the Apollo 13 command module that carried astronauts through a scorching reentry. There are several familiar objects--the Magna Carta; Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation; the 1803 Louisiana Purchase treaty, which doubled our nation's size--as well as artifacts that deserve to be better known, like the funerary chest (discovered only in 1977) in which Alexander the Great buried his father, King Philip II of Macedonia, or the Virginia Declaration of Rights, written in 1776 by George Mason, to whom fellow Virginian Thomas Jefferson owed a significant debt in drafting his far more familiar Declaration of Independence. The basis for a new History Channel prime-time series, History's Lost and Found, this sequel to Rachlin's Lucy's Bones, Sacred Stones, and Einstein's Brain is a grab bag with something for every taste. The best sections are astute mini-essays that enlighten and entertain, whether Rachlin is discussing Freud's couch for his patients, George Washington's schoolboy copybooks, silver "peace pipes" bestowed on reluctant Native American tribes in 1814, Beethoven's ear trumpets or ENIAC, the wartime computer unveiled in 1946, which ushered in the information age. Rachlin's masterful grasp of the material, his employment of rich historical context and his storytelling flair make history come alive. Illus. (Feb.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
From Kirkus Reviews
A bodacious artifactual romp through history. In this sequel to Lucy's Bones, Sacred Stones, and Einstein's Brain (1995), Rachlin examines similar legendary relics like Galileo's Middle Finger (an inscription reads: ``It pointed to new stars . . . and was able to reach what Titans could never attain''); The Tooth of Buddha (Siddhartha Gautamas miracle-making remnant from his cremation); and Freuds Couch (which, like the head shrink himself, narrowly escaped destruction by the Nazis). Whether they are as weighty as the Magna Carta or as weightless as an early draft of ``Take Me Out to the Ball Game,'' Rachlin provides a dating, description, and story of each artifact and its impact. The relics can be as ancient as the Stone of Scone (the biblical Jacob's ``pillow'' used in the coronation throne of British kings since the 1300s) or as recent as the Gun That Killed John Lennon. More than half the artifacts are American, involving figures from the first president (George Washington's Schoolboy Copybooks) to the King (Elvis Presley's Purple Cadillac). While most entries are properly reverential, some are revisionist. In a time when historic baseballs are auctioned for fortunes, Rachlin challenges Abner Doubleday's baseball in Cooperstown, the American pastime's Holy Grail. He reveals that ``all conjecture about the ball is just that.'' The balls dubious link to Doubleday depended on the testimony of a witness committed to an insane asylum. Tracing America's sport to the British game of rounders moves Rachlin to conclude that ``what [a relic] means to people may sometimes be more important than its authenticity.'' His miscellany is thus as much about the myths and memories we value as about the objects that enshrine them. Most of Rachlins 42 relics are fascinating enough to make his survey the literary equivalent of visits to a Ripley's exhibit and a wax museum. (73 b&w illustrations) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
history can be fun,
By A Customer
This review is from: Jumbo's Hide, Elvis's Ride, and the Tooth of Buddha: More Marvelous Tales of Historical Artifacts (Paperback)
Ever wonder what happened to the gun Mark David Chapman used to kill John Lennon? Or the maltese falcon prop from the movie? What about the original Magna Carta? Well, all your questions are answered in this wonderful follow-up to "Lucy's Bones & Sacred Stones." This book like the previous one has me wanting to visit the worlds museums to get a glimse of these amazing artifacts from our history. What about the chair George Washington sat in at the Constitutional Convention? Or slices of Tom Thumb's wedding cake? Highly recommended for a fun and easy read.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another argument against sequels,
By "plattypus" (Paradise Valley, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Jumbo's Hide, Elvis's Ride, and the Tooth of Buddha: More Marvelous Tales of Historical Artifacts (Paperback)
Rachlin has again compiled a wonderful hodgepodge of historical trivia and lost artifacts. Those of you who read his first book (Lucy's Bones. . . ) will find, however, that his approach to the collection has changed. In Jumbo's Hide, Rachlin has included much more side information and background on the objects instead of sticking to what is promised: what happened to the artifcats, who possesed them, and where are they now. This book reads more like a historical textbook than the collection of mysteries that it is. In fact, Rachlin sometimes adds the actual ownership history of the artifact as a footnote to the story.If you are just an amateur historian, this collection is interesting. However, if you already know your world history, you will find this book much more tedious to read than his first.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fun History,
By A Customer
This review is from: Jumbo's Hide, Elvis's Ride, and the Tooth of Buddha: More Marvelous Tales of Historical Artifacts (Paperback)
I couldn't put this book down. If you are a history buff like me this is like brain candy. Nothing too in depth but a fun read.
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