A History of Ambition in 50 Hoaxes (History in 50)


Book Description

What do the Trojan Horse, Piltdown Man, Keely Motor Company, and Ponzi Scheme have in common? They were all famous hoaxes, carefully designed and bolstered with false evidence. 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+




A History of Medicine in 50 Discoveries (History in 50)


Book Description

Vigliani and Eaton’s high-interest exploration of medicine begins in prehistory. The 5,000-year-old Iceman discovered frozen in the Alps may have treated his gallstones, Lyme disease, and hardening of the arteries with the 61 tattoos that covered his body—most of which matched acupuncture points—and the walnut-sized pieces of fungus he carried on his belt. The herbal medicines chamomile and yarrow have been found on 50,000-year-old teeth, and neatly bored holes in prehistoric skulls show that Neolithic surgeons relieved pressure on the brain (or attempted to release evil spirits) at least 10,000 years ago. From Mesopotamian pharmaceuticals and Ancient Greek sleep therapy through midwifery, amputation, bloodletting, Renaissance anatomy, bubonic plague, and cholera to the discovery of germs, X-rays, DNA-based treatments and modern prosthetics, the history of medicine is a wild ride through the history of humankind.




Literacy and Learning in the Content Areas


Book Description

The Fourth Edition of Literacy and Learning in the Content Areas: Enhancing Knowledge in the Disciplines provides readers with the knowledge, motivation, tools, and confidence for integrating literacy in their disciplinary classrooms. Offering an original, literature-based approach to teaching disciplinary literacy, the new edition shares important ways in which teachers of courses in the disciplines can enhance student learning of subject matter and skills while also fostering their growth in the many facets of literacy. Throughout each chapter, Kane provides engaging and creative strategies and activities to make literacy come alive in discipline-specific courses and to encourage students to explore and learn in the classroom. Embedded in each chapter are examples, resources, and strategies to help readers actively engage with and implement literacy practices. These features include Teaching in Action examples by subject area; Activating Prior Knowledge activities to stimulate critical thinking to prepare readers to learn complex theoretical and conceptual material about teaching, learning, and literacy; and end-of-chapter Application Activities to apply field experiences to classroom use. New to the Fourth Edition Every chapter of this new edition is updated to reflect the current approaches, standards, and benchmarks for discipline-specific literacy. Enhanced Companion Website with BookTalks to introduce relevant books in many genres and subjects, encouraging readers to explore the books for themselves and providing a model for BookTalks in their own classrooms. Expanded practical instructional strategies for teaching literacy in math, science, and social studies. Updated to include newly published titles in children’s literature, young adult literature, and nonfiction.




The 100 Most Outrageous Hoaxes and Mistakes


Book Description

Scientific breakthroughs are often regarded with suspicion, especially those that diverge substantially from established theories. New ideas are tested by scientists around the world to ensure that they hold up to scrutiny. This book takes a look at the instances when, despite these precautions, the scientific community got it wrong. The book includes the most infamous cases of fraud and famous mistakes that initially had scientists fooled.




Parodies, Hoaxes, Mock Treatises


Book Description

Swift's parodies are among his most fascinating works, but perhaps require most explication for the modern reader. Valerie Rumbold brings a new depth and detail to the editing of Swift's Bickerstaff papers, 'Polite Conversation', 'Directions to Servants' and other works on language and conduct. Highlights include a fresh investigation of the political and print contexts of the Bickerstaff papers, full commentaries on such smaller works as 'A Modest Defence of Punning' and 'On Barbarous Denominations in Ireland', identification and explanation of many additional sayings in 'Polite Conversation', and a detailed contextualisation of 'Directions to Servants' in contemporary domestic theory and practice. A substantial thematic Introduction is supplemented by an individual headnote and full annotation to each work. The Textual Introduction explores the publishing strategies adopted by Swift and his booksellers, and a separate Textual Account of each work presents and discusses changes in the texts over time.




A Brief History of Vice


Book Description

A celebration of the brave, drunken pioneers who built our civilization one seemingly bad decision at a time, A Brief History of Vice explores a side of the past that mainstream history books prefer to hide. History has never been more fun—or more intoxicating. Guns, germs, and steel might have transformed us from hunter-gatherers into modern man, but booze, sex, trash talk, and tripping built our civilization. Cracked editor Robert Evans brings his signature dogged research and lively insight to uncover the many and magnificent ways vice has influenced history, from the prostitute-turned-empress who scored a major victory for women’s rights to the beer that helped create—and destroy—South America's first empire. And Evans goes deeper than simply writing about ancient debauchery; he recreates some of history's most enjoyable (and most painful) vices and includes guides so you can follow along at home. You’ll learn how to: • Trip like a Greek philosopher. • Rave like your Stone Age ancestors. • Get drunk like a Sumerian. • Smoke a nose pipe like a pre–Columbian Native American. “Mixing science, humor, and grossly irresponsible self-experimentation, Evans paints a vivid picture of how bad habits built the world we know and love.”—David Wong, author of John Dies at the End




America, History and Life


Book Description

Article abstracts and citations of reviews and dissertations covering the United States and Canada.




Jesse James and the Lost Templar Treasure


Book Description

An investigation into the lost treasures of Jesse James and the Freemasons and their connections to the Templars, Rosicrucians, and the Founding Fathers • Explains how Jesse James used techniques involving sacred geometry, gematria, and esoteric symbols to hide his treasures and encode maps • Provides instructions for using the encoding template employed by Jesse James and the Freemasons to hide and recover treasure and sacred relics • Shows how the encoding template confirms the existence of treasures on Oak Island and Victorio Peak and can be traced to a 16th-century book containing a secret map of the New World and the “hooked X” of the Knights Templar Jesse James left behind secret diaries and coded treasure maps. Working to decrypt these maps, Daniel J. Duke--the great-great grandson of Jesse James--reveals hidden treasures yet to be recovered as well as connections between the infamous train robber and Freemasonry, the Knights Templar, the Founding Fathers, and Jewish mysticism. The author explains how Jesse James faked his death and lived out his final years under the name James L. Courtney. He uncovers James’ affiliation with the Knights of the Golden Circle, a secret society that buried Confederate gold across the United States, and shows how the hidden treasures coded into James’ maps were not affiliated with the KGC but with the Freemasons, the Knights Templar, and the treasure of the Temple Mount. Using sacred geometry, gematria, and the Kabbalistic Tree of Life symbol, the author explains the encoded map technique used by the Freemasons to hide and later recover treasures, an esoteric template known as the “Veil”. He shows how the Veil template confirms the locations of Jesse James’ recovered treasures in Texas as well as other suspected treasure locations, such as the Oak Island Money Pit and Victorio Peak in New Mexico. Tracing knowledge of the Veil template back through the centuries, the author reveals the Veil hidden on the cover of a 16th-century book that contains a secret map of the New World and the “hooked X” symbol of the Knights Templar. He shows how the template was used not only to hide treasures but also sacred knowledge and relics, such as within the Bruton Vault, which originally contained secrets tied to Francis Bacon, the Freemasons, the Rosicrucians, and the founding of the United States. Applying the Veil template alongside the esoteric secrets of Poussin’s famous painting, Et In Arcadia Ego, and Cassini’s Celestial Globe, Duke shows how the template reveals other Templar and Freemason treasure sites scattered throughout America and around the world.




My Nigeria


Book Description

His nineteenth-century cousin, paddled ashore by slaves, twisted the arms of tribal chiefs to sign away their territorial rights in the oil-rich Niger Delta. Sixty years later, his grandfather helped craft Nigeria's constitution and negotiate its independence, the first of its kind in Africa. Four decades later, Peter Cunliffe-Jones arrived as a journalist in the capital, Lagos, just as military rule ended, to face the country his family had a hand in shaping.Part family memoir, part history, My Nigeria is a piercing look at the colonial legacy of an emerging power in Africa. Marshalling his deep knowledge of the nation's economic, political, and historic forces, Cunliffe-Jones surveys its colonial past and explains why British rule led to collapse at independence. He also takes an unflinching look at the complicated country today, from email hoaxes and political corruption to the vast natural resources that make it one of the most powerful African nations; from life in Lagos's virtually unknown and exclusive neighborhoods to the violent conflicts between the numerous tribes that make up this populous African nation. As Nigeria celebrates five decades of independence, this is a timely and personal look at a captivating country that has yet to achieve its great potential.




Book Review Digest


Book Description