95 of 99 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Where's the Documentation?, October 18, 2010
I hate to be the "party pooper" in regard to rating this book, but having taught history for 25 years, evaluation instincts die hard!! While the book made for interesting reading, I could not swallow some of the information that was presented as facts. The number one glaring "red light" for me was there was NO list of resources/references. There was a VERY brief list of credits for pictures that was included in back of the book, but there was NO bibliography.
Much of the book relied on hearsay, folklore, and deductions for relating the stories and recipes. Why would anyone spend time researching and writing a book without including what resources were used, if any?
For me, I could not accept this book as a valid non-fiction book. The idea for the book was a great one, but it must be viewed as a book of fiction.
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130 of 138 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Zero fact checking and outright lies, February 17, 2011
This author clearly spent more time developing recipes than doing any fact checking for this book. Here's some rather egregious mistakes just in the Marilyn Monroe chapter:
*'social workers took her to the orphanage when she was 9- no, social workers were never involved. She was brought to the orphanage when her guardian could no longer care for her
* 'worked as a cocktail waitress'- Marilyn Monroe never worked as a waitress, cocktail or otherwise
*'had an affair with Stavros, head of the studio'- there is no such person as the singly named 'Stavros'. Perhaps the author is thinking of Spyros Skouras, who was a head of Fox at the time, although Marilyn did not have an affair with him
* 'met JFK at a secret penthouse and called the White House frequently'- never happened. Marilyn and JFK were only in the same place at the same time on two occasions- one was at a private party at Bing Crosby's house in Palm Springs, the other was the night she sang Happy Birthday. Speaking of....
* the author states that she met with JFK that night. No, she did not, her whereabouts of the evening are extremely well documented. She escorted her date, her former father in law Isidore Miller home and then returned home directly to her apartment. Numerous sources confirm this.
* The author states that she was going to be fired for going to JFK's birthday. Actually, Marilyn had notified the studio well in advance that she would be attending, but by the time the date approached they were angry that she had missed so many production days on set due to a viral infection.
* The author states that Peter Lawford and Bobby Kennedy visited her on 8/4/62. There is nothing to substantiate this claim, and her activity on that day is well documented
* The author claims she was 'going to call a press conference' and tell all about the Kennedys. This is an absolute lie started by known fraud and derided liar Robert Slatzer. Marilyn was going to do no such thing.
* The author states more than once that the police were called at 5 am. It is very well documented that the police were called at 4 am and arrived on scene at 4:10 am.
* Marilyn did not have 'a buffet of Mexican food' delivered on August 4th. She had a small amount of food and liquor delivered from Briggs Deli on August 3rd. Existing receipts confirm this.
* Marilyn's last meal was not Mexican food. Her last meal was a half a grapefruit eaten for breakfast her last morning alive. This is confirmed by both her publicist and her housekeeper, who were there to witness it. Her autopsy revealed that she had eaten nothing else the day she died.
If this author is so egregiously sloppy and nonchalant about fact checking and printing lies, how can you possibly believe a single word of this book is true? Stavros, seriously?
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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Misrepresentation, May 23, 2011
I was unable to finish this book. As a historian I look for many things when it comes to a book that claims to be a study in history. First I want to at least see a bibliography of sources. Also, I look for the work to stay on target. This book claims to be about the "final meals" of historic figures. All I found was a cursive biography that seemed to have been taken straight from Wikipedia. By the way, Napoleon was not "short", any novice historian will tell you that he was around 5 feet six inches. This was the average height of a man during the early 19th century. Perhaps if the book had been title "Legends of History and what they Ate" I would have been more impressed. The author could not decide whether he was writing a book of historic recipes or a book of short biographies. According to his website there are two more volumes to follow. I cannot see myself reading them. I was very disappointed in this book. If you are looking for history pick up an actual history book and use this book only for its recipes.
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