A History of Ambition in 50 Hoaxes Contributor(s): Eaton, Gale (Author), Hoose, Phillip (Editor) |
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ISBN: 0884484653 ISBN-13: 9780884484653 Publisher: Tilbury House Publishers OUR PRICE: $22.46 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: September 2016 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Juvenile Nonfiction | History - General - Juvenile Nonfiction | Law & Crime - Juvenile Nonfiction | Reference - General |
Dewey: 001.950 |
LCCN: 2016015590 |
Series: History in 50 |
Physical Information: 0.9" H x 6.7" W x 9.8" (2.00 lbs) 288 pages |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: The con artists in this book pursued a variety of ambitions--making money, winning wars, mocking authority, finding fame, trading an ordinary life for a glamorous one--but they all chose the lowest, fastest road to get there. Every hoax is a curtain, and behind it is a deceiver operating levers and smoke machines to make us see what is not there and miss what is. As P.T. Barnum knew, you can short-circuit critical thinking in any century by telling people what they want to hear. Most scams operate on a personal scale, but some have shaped the balance of world power, inspired explorers to sail uncharted seas, derailed scientific progress, or caused terrible massacres. A HISTORY OF AMBITION IN 50 HOAXES guides us through a rogue's gallery of hustlers, liars, swindlers, imposters, scammers, pretenders, and cheats. In Gale Eaton's wide-ranging synthesis, the history of deception is a colorful tour, with surprising insights behind every curtain. Fountas & Pinnell Level Z+ |
Contributor Bio(s): Eaton, Gale: - Gale Eaton has spent a lifetime with books for children and young adults, first as a children's librarian at the Boston Public Library and the Berkshire Athenaeum, and later as a professor of children's literature at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Library and Information Studies. She is the author of four other books.Hoose, Phillip: - "Phillip Hoose is the widely acclaimed author of books, essays, stories, songs, and articles including the National Book Award - and Newbery Honor - winning book Claudette Colvin: Twice toward Justice and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor winner The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club. A graduate of Indiana University and the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, Hoose was for 37 years a staff member of The Nature Conservancy, dedicated to preserving the plants, animals, and natural communities of the Earth." |