[Matt Savinar]

For father's day, I got my dad, "One Night Stands with American History."
It's a collection of rarely told stories from America's past. Some of theme were hilarious, others absolutely fascinating.

A few that I found particularly memorable:

1. When salt miners would strike oil back in the early 1800's, they would have to abandon the mine!

2. The guy who drilled the first commercial oil well almost went bankrupt. In his old age, he was supported by a pension the state gave him as a way of saying "thanks."

3. Thomas Jefferson died bankrupt. On the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, congress took up a collection to help him out. Only 4 congressmen donated any money.

4. The governer of New York from 1702-1708 was a transvesite. You have got to see the portrait of him. (or her?)

5. The movie industry was formed in Hollywood primarily because the producers needed to be able to flee to Mexico in case a certain N.Y. company came after them for patent/copright violations.

6. Meetings of senate were so violent/dangerous in the early 1800's that senators routinely carried several pistols each.

7. "Hooker" came to mean "prostitute" during the Civil War. Apparently there was a Union Army division stationed near Washington that was particularly fond of the whore houses there. There commander was a man named General Joseph Hooker.

8. John Wilkes Booth - the man who shot Lincoln, was one of the marines assigned to apprehend abolotionist John Brown.

9. In the early 1800's, you could be sold as an indentured servant, in which case you had the same rights (or lack there of) as a slave. Two of the first presidents spent large parts of their youth as indentured servants.

10. One of the colonies ex-communicated all lawyers at one point.

11. A sitting president (again, don't remember which) was arrested during his presidency for speeding in a horse-drawn carriage.

12. While in law school, Nixon broke into the dean's office to find out his class rank.

There were some hilarious ones that would take way too long to explain. Highly recommended book.

Matt

[The_Virginian]

I reccomend the "Phowattan Indians of Virginia" by Dr. Hellen Rountree.

Great readable history and anthropology book. Lore, Ancient technology, woodcuts of Amro-indians, an a-1 book.