One-Night Stands with American History

Odd, Amusing, and Little-Known Incidents

Richard Shenkman, Kurt Reiger

• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9780060538200
• eBook ISBN: 9780062105981
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: American Civil War History
• Index: History

One-Night Stands with American History is a guided tour through the seedy underbelly of our nation. Richard Shenkman and Kurt Reiger dig deep into the history of the United States to uncover stories about hoaxes, inventions, secrets and rare incidents, many involving the famous and powerful.

Readers will discover how and why a future U.S. president refused to pay ten cents in postage on the letter officially notifying him of his nomination for office, J. Edgar Hoover refused to allow people to walk on his shadow, and Federal troops captured Jefferson Davis wearing his wife's clothing. An amusing, informative treasure trove, this collection of little-known facts from American history is a goldmine for history and trivia buffs alike.

Richard Shenkman is the New York Times best-selling author of five history books, including Legends, Lies & Cherished Myths of American History and I Love Paul Revere. Educated at Vassar and Harvard, he is an Emmy Award-winning investigative reporter and the former managing editor of the news department at the CBS-TV affiliate in Seattle. He has been the host, writer, and producer of a prime-time series on the Learning Channel and a regular contributor to the NBC Sunday Today show.

Kurt Reiger received his B.A. in American History from Vanderbilt University. Born and raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, he also holds an M.B.A. degree from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Index

The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific passage, please use the search feature of your e-book reader.

ABC News, 300

abolitionism, 89, 98, 99

accents, 1

Adams, Franklin P., 182

Adams, Henry, 130, 131

Adams, James, 127

Adams, John, 20, 21, 32, 33, 38, 233, 234, 246

Adams, John Quincy, 18, 53, 54, 55, 246

Adams, New Hampshire, 54

Adamson, Carl, 207

adultery, 9, 37, 40, 45, 71, 72, 75, 76, 77, 260, 298, 299, 300

Africa, 51, 52, 53

Agnew, Spiro, 259

Aguinaldo, 190

airplane, first, 205, 206

Alabama, 36, 64, 118, 129

Alamo, 63, 64, 65

Alexandria, Virginia, 107

Algonquin, 1

Allen, Ethan, 26

Allen, John, 118

ambassadorial ignorance, 273, 274

American Civil Liberties Union, 225

Ames, Fisher, 17

Anaconda Copper Company, 196

Annapolis, Maryland, 18

Appomattox, 105

Aptheker, Herbert, 281

Arens, Richard, 267, 268

Arikara, 44

Arizona, 82

Arkansas, 113, 225, 237, 299

Armstrong, Neil, 259

Army Corps of Engineers, 307, 308, 309

Arnold, Benedict, 57

Arthur, Chester A., 161

Articles of Confederation, 26

assassinations, 60, 61, 122, 157, 194, 195, 196, 212

Astor, John Jacob, 56

Atchison, David Rice, 79

Athens, Alabama, 119

Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 297

Atlanta, Georgia, 217, 222, 223

Augusta, Georgia, 36

Austin, Warren, 257

Babbit, E. J., 64

balanced budget, 249

bald eagle, 27

Baldwin, Luther, 38, 39

Baltimore, Maryland, 41

Bank of the United States, 55

Barham, General, 110

Barkley, Alben, 257

Barnum, Phineas T., 132, 133, 134, 205

Barton, Bruce, 225

baseball, 55

bathtub, 218, 219

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 277

Battle of Brandywine Creek, 23

Battle of Buena Vista, 80, 81

Battle of Bunker Hill, 18, 19

Battle of Monterey, 80

Battle of New Orleans, 58

Battle of Santiago, 187

Beaumarchais, Caron de, 19

Beecher, Henry Ward, 112, 138, 148, 149

Beecher, Philomen, 50

Bell, Alexander Graham, 151, 158, 159, 302, 303

Bell Homestead Museum, 303

Benjamin, Judah P., 104, 105

Bennett, James Gordon, 167

Benton, Thomas Hart, 57, 60, 61, 62, 204

Berlin, West Germany, 254, 255

Bey of Tunis, 35

Bible, 1, 225

Biddle, Nicholas, 55

Billings, C. K. G., 181

billy goats, 236, 237

Billy the Kid, 208

Birdseye, Clarence, 214

birth control, 56, 57

Bismarck, North Dakota, 45

blackbirds, 74

Blackhawk War, 102

blackmail, 203, 204

Blakley, William Arvis, 279, 280, 281

Bliss, D. W., 158

bloody shirt, 84

Bonaparte, Joseph, 18

Bonaparte, Napoleon, 18

boom town, 63

Booth, John Wilkes, 105, 122, 157

Borden, Gail, 95

Bordento...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Beginnings
• Inventing a Country
• Old Hickory to Old Rough-and-Ready
• Billy Yank and Johnny Reb
• The Great Barbecue
• The Full Dinner Pail, the Bull Moose, and the Great War
• Era of the Pumpkin Coach
• War on Depression, War on Europe
• From Doo-wop to Disco
• Since Watergate
• Index
• Acknowledgments
• About the Authors
• Credits
• Copyright
• About the Publisher