Customer Reviews

Unsolved Mysteries of American History: An Eye-Opening Journey through 500 Years of Discoveries, Disappearances, and Baffling Events

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
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Does not try to force pet answers to vast historial questions, but gives the readers a good foundation for thought and further study. As a high school history teacher I would want my students to step into something like this; rather than the water down junk in most texts.

This book gives all of its readers a very interesting and in depth veiw of the major events that have shaped America's History. even if you dont know abot all of the events that are included within its pages, it is stil very intriuging. I would say that if if American History floats your boat give this book a read.

Impartial presentation of unsolved mysteries of American history, the author gives all comparative points of view as well as utmost current revisionist views of unsolved history. I especially enjoyed the fact that at the end of each subject the author gives you a list of additional research for each subject, as this book contains 30 subjects and lightly give the reader a brief scenario of each topic, not nearly as in-depth as some may like but enough to provoke further research. The author has done a very fine job of compiling the facts of each event and presenting them with in the timeline of history.

I bought this as a gift for my elderly history-buff father, thinking that it might be light and short enough for him to read and enjoy. The moment I opened it to check if it would indeed be an appropriate gift I was enthralled, and I ordered up the author's second volume before I was half done. It's a very easy read, with seven-page sections devoted to each "mystery" (really just an historical event of some controversy), followed by references to indicate the orientation of the author. As a former history major, the sections reminded me of what it was like to 'do' history: weighing different accounts, interpretations, and evidence to try to figure out what one thinks actually happened and why. I even read the section of "Pickett's Charge", when I have a marked aversion to the battles of the Civil War. It only took a day to read the book. I'd recommend it to anyone who is interested in knowing how various key events like Pearl Harbor have been understood. The annotated references alone are useful. What one should get from the book is some understanding of how we can never truly know the past with great certainty.

Great, short book. Very fun reading. Aron provides both the traditionalist and revisionist viewpoints on mysteries discussed. It's refreshing because he's neither an in-your-face revisionist conspiracy theorist, nor a staunch traditionalist. At least, if he resides in one camp or the other, he provides unbiased essays on many unanswered questions throughout our history. The book really makes one want to dig into the evidence and explore the mysteries further. He discusses the Rosenberg trial, Kennedy's assasination, Lincoln's assasination, The conquest of the Aztecs, Norse Vinland, and many other interesting topics. Several references are provided at the end of each chapter, which help catapult further reading on particular topics of interest. Overall, this is a great, concise book.

This book scores on both the entertainment and pedagogical fronts. I frankly found it hard to put down. It's a thoroughly enjoyable excursion into the lingering questions or mysteries, as it were, of our American past. Aron writes in a lively, authoritative style and offers compelling insights.

It covers thirty topics from America's past, and attempts to provide answers to these questions. Some are controversial, and some will never be solved to most people's satisfaction. But they all make for interesting reading. Each chapter lists books for further reading.

Chapter 14 discusses the death of Davy Crockett. Contemporary reports said he surrendered, then was executed. This also happened to the Anglos after the defeat in Zacatecas, the state that also rebelled against the seizure of power by Santa Ana.

Chapter 15 discusses the battle of Gettysburg, and how General Lee hoped to use JEB Stuart's cavalry. He didn't mention that George Armstrong Custer's cavalry defeated Stuart and helped the Union victory.

Chapter 18 deals with Sacco and Vanzetti. Dr. Henry C. Lee's "Famous Crimes Revisited" has a chapter that tells of the forged ballistic evidence. It also has a chapter on the Lindbergh kidnapping: Hauptmann did not write that ransom note! Why did the dog do nothing on that night?

Chapter 22 asks if FDR knew about the attack on Pearl Harbor in advance; the answer is YES. Curt Gentry's 1989 biography of J Edgar Hoover notes that in July 1941 Ian Fleming brought in a Nazi spy who was assigned to scout Pearl Harbor to see if an attack was feasible. Robert B Stinnett's "Day of Deceit" finally solved this question when he discovered an action plan from October 1940. It listed the steps necessary to provoke Japan into war. When the last step was taken in July 1941, Japan decided to go to war.

Chapter 23 asks if dropping the atom bomb on Japan was necessary. There was a secret protocol to the Yalta Treaty. Stalin agreed to break their Peace Treaty and attack Japan 90 days after the end of the European war. The first bomb on August 6 did not end the war. Russian declared war on August 9 and swept through Manchuria. The Japanese Militarists then knew that resistance was futile.

Chapter 25 ask "Who Killed JFK?". It took hardened criminals to pull the triggers, experienced agents to plan this executive action, and high-level members of the ruling class to cover it up. The 1974 novel "Winter Kills" by Richard Condon provides a symbolic solution. Mark North's "Act of Treason" builds on the work of others.

Chapter 29 discusses the missing 18 minutes on that Nixon tape. About twenty years ago I saw a TV interview of Nixon; he said the missing minutes were "about the Bay of Pigs". H R Haldeman's "The Ends of Power" explain this code word.

Chapter 30 deals with the Reagan's selling government property (military arms) to the Iranians, and then diverting this money to private parties (rebels in Nicaragua). This violation of the law could have been used to impeach Reagan! Reagan's chosen biographer said "Reagan was senile in his second term"; he was truly the Acting President.

I'm not a huge history fan, but on a whim I decided to check out Paul Aron's Unsolved Mysteries of American History. I was most interested in the theories surrounding the Disappearance of the Roanoke Colony. However, before long I found myself immersed in everything from: Did Babe Ruth Call His Shot to Was Amelia Earhart a Spy to Who was to Blame for Pearl Harbor. All in all 30 different US mysteries are covered over a timeframe of centuries.

The nice thing about this book is that Mr. Aron doesn't just give you "an answer". He has clearly researched all of these topics and looked at each question from numerous points of view. All of his research is cited and allows the reader to continue on their interest in any topic. The other nice approach to this book is that each question is covered in 5-8 pages. It's an easy book to pick up and read when you have a few spare minutes to fill.

I felt like I learned some new information and I was entertained. What more could you ask for in a book?

In 30 chapters, the author poses 30 questions, one per chapter, pertaining to unsolved issues in American history. In each case, the available information is presented and analyzed. Radically different views are each given their due consideration. Then, the author finishes the chapter with his well-balanced conclusions about the most likely answer to the question initially posed. Each chapter is followed by a list of references, along with the author's comments on most of them. The book is well-written and in a very engaging style. All this, combined with the odd tongue-in-cheek choice of words in appropriate places, makes this book a most entertaining and informative read. I recommend it to anyone with a fascination for real-life mysteries.

This book is chock full of interesting and unsolved mysteries of American history. It starts with the "discovery" of America (wither Leaf Erikson actually discovered Newfoundland) discusses the disappearances of the Indian tribes in South America, what really happened to the settlers of Roanoke, wither Pocahontas actually saved John Smith's life, what caused the Salem Witch Trials, wither Rachel Jackson was actually a bigamist,did Thomas Jefferson father Sally Hemmings' children, wither Babe Ruth "called" one of his most famous plays, who killed the Limburgh Baby, if Sacco and Vanzetti were guilty, the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, as well as who killed JFK, and why Truman really dropped the Bomb ending WWII.

The only problem I had with the book was when he discussed Thomas Jefferson. At first I thought it was curious that he thought that Thomas Jefferson had not fathered Sally Hemmings' children but then looked at the copyright date and found out that it was written two years before the DNA test confirmed that her youngest child was fathered by someone with Jefferson DNA.

Overall a very interesting book with fascinating stories that will keep you entertained for hours.