One-Night Stands With American History: Odd, Amusing, and Little-Known Incidents [Paperback]

Richard Shenkman (Author), Kurt Reiger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1982

- In 1921, a bankrupt H.L. Hunt won his first oil well in a game of five-card stud.

- Women were in such short supply in Louisiana in 1721 that the government of France shipped twenty-five prostitutes to the colony.

- U.S. Grant was arrested, while President, for speeding in his horse carriage.

- Lord Cornbury, a governor of New York from 1702 to 1708, was a transvestite.

- J. Edgar Hoover refused to allow people to walk on his shadow.

These and other remarkable facts are recorded -- and documented -- in this fascinating treasure trove of little-known facts about American history. Based on exhaustive research, this irreverent collection will startle, amuse, entertain, and inform -- and every word is true.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Richard Shenkman is the New York Times bestselling author of five history books, including Legends, Lies & Cherished Myths of American History, "I Love Paul Revere, Whether He Rode or Not," and One-Night Stands with American History, which he co-authored. Educated at Vassar and Harvard, he is an Emmy Award-winning investigator reporter and the former managing editor of the news department at the CBS-TV affiliate in Seattle. Most recently he was the host, writer, and producer of a prime-time series on the Learning Channel and before that was a regular contributor to the NBC Sunday Today show.

Product Details

• Paperback: 285 pages
• Publisher: Quill (September 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688013996
• ISBN-13: 978-0688013998
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,746,056 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Delightful Anecdotes, May 12, 2001

By 

Jamie Jeffords (South Carolina) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: One-Night Stands With American History: Odd, Amusing, and Little-Known Incidents (Paperback)

Not exactly heavy reading, since one can finish it in one sitting with little effort, but this was one of the most fun books this little history buff has ever read.

ONSWAH gives a few dozen anecdotes and unusual or ironic facts in each era of American history on up until the Carter administration.

For anyone who is interested in America history and wants something more akin to brain candy, I highly recommend this book. It's one you will pull off the shelf again and again, just to make sure that little known and silly fact actually does exist and you didn't just imagine it. Just please don't start any bar fights over some of the odder bits of trivia.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One Night Stand, July 6, 2000

By 

Ben - See all my reviews

This review is from: One-Night Stands With American History: Odd, Amusing, and Little-Known Incidents (Paperback)

I was visiting Washington D.C. recently and saw this book at the gift shop there. On a whim (mostly because I love trivia), I decided to buy the book to read on the plane home. I never made it that far.

Richard Shenkman and Kurt Reiger put together a collection of trivia, facts, and anecdotes regarding nine different time periods including Columbus, The Civil War, Hiroshima, and many others. A wide variety of information is covered, and nearly every (if not every) entry has source notes.

When I first picked up the book, I finished it before my scheduled plane departure. I stayed up all night reading the book until it was finished. I had a One Night Stand with American History.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars guess i'm monogamous, February 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: One-Night Stands With American History: Odd, Amusing, and Little-Known Incidents (Paperback)

An entertaining enough collection of weird facts and anecdotes about American history--each one with an original source citation to boot, which is great. Except that a lot of it's anecdotal, and a lot of the sources are OTHER collections of trivia rather than anything primary. But it's all richer and smarter than I would have expected, which is why my browsing through it turned into a full reading.--J.Ruch