Unsolved Mysteries of American History: An Eye-Opening Journey through 500 Years of Discoveries, Disappearances, and Baffling Events | 
|  | | | Title: | Unsolved Mysteries of American History: An Eye-Opening Journey through 500 Years of Discoveries, Disappearances, and Baffling Events | | Author: | Paul Aron | | Publisher: | Wiley [Website] | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 22 September, 1998 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0471283681 / 9780471283683 | | List Price: | $15.95 | | You Save: | $5.10 | | Amazon Price: | $10.85 | |
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Product Description
"A lively tour through our past and an ingenious primer in the art of historical detection." —Robert A. Gross, author of The Minutemen and Their World Did Leif Ericsson beat Columbus to America? What happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke? Did Pocahontas really save John Smith? Did Davy Crockett die at the Alamo? What really happened to Amelia Earhart, and was she a spy? Who killed JFK? Unsolved Mysteries of American History re-creates the most mystifying events of our past, following some of our greatest historians as they search for the elusive answers. Spanning more than five centuries—from Leif Ericsson and Columbus through Watergate and Iran-Contra—Aron makes sense of all the latest discoveries and speculations. Here is everything you could ever want from a detective story: dramatic twists and turns, intellectual challenges, frustrating dead-ends, murderous mayhem, and thrilling espionage. "Stimulating and pleasurable, fair and objective . . . recommended for both the history buff and the fan of true-life mysteries."—Kirkus Reviews "Everyone loves a mystery and a history mystery best of all. Aron has assembled an impressive array of 'whodunits.'" —Ivor Noel Hume, former director, Department of Archaeology, Colonial Williamsburg author of The Virginia Adventure "A welcome gateway for historical exploration." —Booklist "Aron performs something of a minor miracle: He zeroes in on the very core of historical mysteries and provides new insights for reconsidering mystifying events." —Allan W. Eckert, author of Sorrow in Our Heart
Amazon.com Review
In a collection of 30 articles, Unsolved Mysteries of American History takes some of the most notable quandaries of the American past and tries to offer some solid answers, or at least alternate explanations. Paul Aron takes on the serious ("Why did Truman drop the bomb?") as well as the frivolous ("Did Babe Ruth call his shot?"). The book is written to entertain, but Aron provides a bibliography for further reading at the end of each essay, and steers readers to heavier tomes if they wish to dig deeper into the various subjects.
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Customer Reviews:
• Ahh Good Old American History 28 January, 2008
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.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1UGI86U2LKYWH
• A Fact Filled Easy To Read Trip Through History 27 April, 2007
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?
- Reviewed by customer ID: AYKEN16NIUW9M
• Don't Expect To Find Many New Answers To These Great Mysteries 12 October, 2007
In this rather short book of 225 pages, the author has outlined 30 great mysteries of American History. Most are very familiar to anyone who has read much history.However; he still gives the reader enough information to summarize what the mystery was all about,the efforts made to resolve them, and the generally accepted resolution as well as the the opposing contentions and unresolved and/or contested positions.
At the end of each mystery,the author gives good references which can be pursued if one wants to delve into them further.
The period covered is as extensive as you can get;from "When Did the First People Arrive in America?",through "Where Did Columbus Land?","Why Did Benedict Arnold Turn Traitor?","Did Babe Ruth Call His Shot?","Why Did Truman Drop the Bomb?","Who Killed JFK?",to "What Did Reagan Know About Iran-Contra?".
Most of these subjects were great news events at the time.many have been covered extensively in newspapers,books,movies ,documentries. All sorts of investigations have been commissioned to resolve them .Despite the efforts made to resolve them.the mystery or controversy remains.
Probably the greatest mystery in modern times has to be the killing of JFK.It was documented and shown an endless number of times. Commissions have issued findings.There are endless conjectures and few have been convinced that they really know what and why things happened as has been explained.If the killing of JFK is a mystery,the killing of Oswald is just as much a mystery."There have been more than 2000 books and tens of thousands of articles on the subject,investigators have argued that JFK was killed by,to mention just the main culprits; the CIA,the KGB,the FBI,The Mafia,Fidel Castro, anti-Castro Cubans,and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.Not to mention Lee Harvey Oswald." Or was it a conspiracy of several or none of the above?
A great summary of mysteries and a good source reference for further reading.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A18OBUSMXVE8R0
• Exciting And Informative 03 December, 2007
Aron's book is both exciting and informative. Certain mysteries he deals with I had encountered before in popular literature claiming to know the answer one way or another (Example: Was Amelia a Spy?) but I had not ever bothered to take the time to correctly research. Other mysteries, such as the Roanoke disappearance and the Viking discovery of America I had only heard mention of in passing and I was delighted to find them dealt with here in such an informative manner. The reading is easy, and the references are listed out at the end of each chapter.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1PAYS46YUJK4W
• Provides Great Summaries Of Mysterious Turning Points In Our Past 28 August, 2006
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.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1FWEYKTZY9KL
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