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treehugginpam's review against another edition
3.0
Farquhar goodness. I liked his Royal Scandals book better, but that's only because I generally prefer European history to U.S. history. Family drama (who knew that Ben Franklin was a horrible father?), character flaws (Nixon was an anti-Semite on top of everything else?), and catty sexual scandals (like the Peggy Eaton affair) abound. I love Farquhar's style -- imagine a gossip magazine written by a scholar who doesn't dumb things down. Can't wait to read his book on liars and hoodwinkers!
sindri_inn_arsaeli's review against another edition
4.0
Read by Johnny Heller, and reader and author are an excellent fit. The dry humor of Farquhar's text is perfectly delivered in Heller's wry deadpan. A match made in heaven!
nwhyte's review against another edition
http://nhw.livejournal.com/197514.html[return][return]Lots of fun gossip and trivia, with a cut-off date of 1980, and a slightly contrived reaching back to cover the Salem Witch trials. But generally entertaining.
courtofsmutandstuff's review against another edition
3.0
Another nice Farquhar book, not my favorite by him but enjoyable with fun facts about scandalous Americans not known before as well as refreshing history lessons on aspects as famous as the Salem Witch Trials and J. Edgar Hoover.
kikiandarrowsfishshelf's review against another edition
3.0
I like history, but more the Tudor period, or the ancients. American History, for the most part, has always somewhat bored me. (Yeah, I know. I am a bad Yank. I did, however, love my local history classes in college).
Farquhar is funny. Good short read. I fear very sorry for Ima Hogg. I really, really do.
Farquhar is funny. Good short read. I fear very sorry for Ima Hogg. I really, really do.
elisamccune's review against another edition
3.0
More of a "flip through" rather than "peruse" sort of book. I enjoyed passages on Teddy Roosevelt (my favorite) and some of the shorter anecdotes, but the longer passages didn't hold my attention very well. Still, the section of quotes from Richard Nixon (who should've just been called Dick, never mind the Tricky, if you ask me) is worth a read.
cubsfan3410reads's review against another edition
4.0
Another 'scandelous' book about our American history. Very interesting listen.
rabbithero's review
3.0
Fun. Not too in-depth, and an easy, breezy read. Still, it did provide some really interesting, personal information on a lot of people from our nation's history. We, as a nation, have pretty much always been fucked up, it seems. Also, there was a lot of semantic information that was really enlightening: vice-presidents, for instance, used to chosen in a run-off style. The second place candidate was declaed vice-president.
Oh, and apparently James Buchanan was gay. Huh.
Oh, and apparently James Buchanan was gay. Huh.
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