Books in Art In History series

Life was tough in Old Testament times. People had to cross deserts on foot, grow food on parched land and deal with earthquakes, drought and disease. If you lived then, you might not have wanted to be a water hauler. That would have meant walking for miles with a heavy jar full of water on your head. A more pleasant job might have been that of perfumer, concocting sweet-smelling fragrances that your customers would use to mask the smell of unwashed bodies—and to keep flies away. Other jobs include necromancer (only if you like communicating with the dead), date picker (but not if you’re afraid of heights) or gold jewelry maker (people would think you were a magician!) A fact-filled introduction, timeline and index make this book perfect for research projects while the humorous illustrations and snappy text provide an entertaining read. Kids will look at history in a whole new way thanks to this unique approach.

Short: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. Main: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.