Unsolved Mysteries of American History: An Eye-Opening Journey Through 500 Years of Discoveries, Disappearances, and Baffling Events

by Paul Aron

Book Overview

"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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471283681
• ISBN13: 9780471283683
• Release Date: September 1998
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
• Length: 225 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

I guess if your not versed much in American History this might have some ok offerings, but much is condensed and leaves open issues, that are not in fact unsolved, and often offers wild speculation as acceptable theoires to conclusions not written in historical stone (few things are) not much depth of each subject, and does little to peak this reader's curiosity. It's ok for young readers or adults who prefer light historical overviews.

Don't expect to find many new answers to these great mysteries

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.

Provides great summaries of mysterious turning points in our past

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.

Extremely fun, thought-provoking read

This book scores on both the entertainment and pedagogical fronts. I frankly found it hard to put down. It's a thoroughly enjoyable excursion into the lingering questions or mysteries, as it were, of our American past. Aron writes in a lively, authoritative style and offers compelling insights.

A must for serious history students

Does not try to force pet answers to vast historial questions, but gives the readers a good foundation for thought and further study. As a high school history teacher I would want my students to step into something like this; rather than the water down junk in most texts.

An Interesting Look At The Major Events Of The US

This book gives all of its readers a very interesting and in depth veiw of the major events that have shaped America's History. even if you dont know abot all of the events that are included within its pages, it is stil very intriuging. I would say that if if American History floats your boat give this book a read.