Vineyard Confidential: 350 Years of Scandals, Eccentrics, & Strange Occurrences [Paperback]

Holly Nadler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2006

In the author's words, her book includes the island's fabulous collection of historic and contemporary tidbits, including those about people who come to the island in secret; celebrity scandals, as seen from the point of view of people who live on Martha's Vineyard; unsolved murders; sea monster sightings; paranormal events; shipwrecks; and some only on the Vineyard eccentrics and crackpots from the last 350 years.

Product Details

• Paperback: 159 pages
• Publisher: Down East Books; 1St Edition edition (January 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892726873
• ISBN-13: 978-0892726875
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #179,843 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Yawn!, August 9, 2009

By 

Sharon Levenson "reader" (new jersey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Vineyard Confidential: 350 Years of Scandals, Eccentrics, & Strange Occurrences (Paperback)

Vineyard confidential...it sort of has the ring of something naughty,doesn't it?"Murder and madness,love and loss,the sacred ,profane,and scandalous..."this is the way the volume is described on the back cover..On the front cover are drawings of Bill Clinton ,Ted Kennedy,and Princess Di,all known for thier own little scandals and peccidillos.."Dip into the pages of Vineyard confidential for a guided tour of the not quite respectable side of Martha's Vinyard.We guaranteel you'll find it memorable"...again quoted from the back cover...

First of all I would like to discover who the"we" in "we guarantee you'll find it memorable" is..I would really like to have a word with these people on the meaning of the word"Memorable"...Memorable, in my case, meant how memorably quickly I began yawning after opening up the book and reading it...

Sure there are stories about celebrities with scandals attached to thier names...Bill Clinton for example..He stayed at Martha's Vineyard,as this book points out,and while he was there NOTHING HAPPENED OF ANY NOTE..Bill Clinton stayed a lot of places,but so what?It was his escapades while in the white house with monica that made headlines ..Princess Di stayed at Martha's vineyard too..Her marriage to Prince Charles and her tragic death made headlines,but while she stayed at Martha's Vineyard NOTHING OF ANY IMPORTANCE HAPPENED,as this book so blandly points out..Jackie Kennedy had a house there and was known for her privacy wishes...Scandalous?Memorable?HARDLY !Her son ,his wife and his wife's sister died in a plane crash there..Tragic,but well-reported in the press..Vineyard Confidential adds nothing new to the details of that crash that appeared in all of the newspapers at the time,and the writing in fact detracts considerably from the sensationalism .

As for the rest of the book,ms Nadler,the author,contents herself with boring trivia...Two hundred year old murders of absolutely no significance,skunk stories,a few trite little tidbits concerning the filming of the movie"Jaws",a bank robber who used a bow and arrow,a pet pig,an extinct member of the chicken family,just the sort of UNmemorable stuff that you find in your own daily newspapers on a regular basis..

YAWN !

Ms.Nadler's bio in at the back of the book credits her with having "written for television comedies"but does not tell us which.Too bad,because given the banal nature of her writing in Vineyard Confidential listing the comedies on T.V. that she has written for may well have lost them audience interest.

While on the subject of television comedies,"Seinfeld",the landmark 1990s comedy was often billed as a show about nothing..It may be true,but the"nothing" it was about was often hilarious.Vineyard Confidential,for all of its back-cover hype is a book about nothing,but unlike"Seinfeld" it is utterly boring.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The quirky side of American history., February 2, 2007

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vineyard Confidential: 350 Years of Scandals, Eccentrics, & Strange Occurrences (Paperback)

Any with connections to Martha's Vineyard must have VINEYARD CONFIDENTIAL: 350 YEARS OF SCANDALS, ECCENTRICS, AND STRANGE OCCURRENCES. The author is an Island resident and gossip who shares fun anecdotes, tidbits of local history and color, and funny stories of both celebrities and island oddities alike. Maine libraries will find it a popular leisure read, Martha's Vineyard residents with an affection for their home's local color will love it, as will general readers with an interest in the quirky side of American history.

5.0 out of 5 stars Vineyard Confidential, November 26, 2011

By 

Joseph G. Langen "Joe Langen" (Leroy) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Vineyard Confidential: 350 Years of Scandals, Eccentrics, & Strange Occurrences (Paperback)

I happened upon this book by accident. I recently traveled to Martha's Vineyard, partly because I do almost every year and partly because I am working on a book set in the Vineyard. While there, I spent some time on Gay Head beach, sheltered by Lillian Hellman's cabana, now turned on its face by winter storms. I knew many famous people have spent time on the Vineyard. I bought the book for my girlfriend who has ventured to the Vineyard since her teen years. The sales and delivery process were seamless. I was glad to have the book for her stocking.