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A Treasury of Great American Scandals: Tantalizing True Tales of Historic Misbehavior by the Founding Fathers and Others Who Let Freedom Swing Audiobook
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(3.02) - 528 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
Following on the heels of his national bestseller A Treasury of Royal Scandals, Michael Farquhar turns his attention to matters a little closer to home. From the unhappy family relationships of prominent Americans to the feuds, smear campaigns, duels, and infamous sex scandals that have punctuated our history, we see our Founding Fathers and other American heroes in the course of their all-too-human events.
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"I enjoyed this book, a dollar find at a YMCA book sale. While some of the scandals were familiar, others were shocking. I loved seeing the legends debunked. Benjamin Franklin, so famous for his lightning experiment, actually let his son run around in the field during the storm, while he watched from the shelter of a barn. Reading about all the hijinks and misbehavior of our country's leaders did renforce to me that we have invented nothing. Like it says on the back cover of the book, we just have better media coverage."
— Lavonne (4 out of 5 stars)
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“[An] entertaining collection.”
— Publishers Weekly -
“The reading by Johnny Heller is appropriately nuanced for both the tragic and comic cases, and the production is typical of the solid professionalism one expects from Recorded Books.”
— Audiofile
A Treasury of Great American Scandals Listener Reviews
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" Not the most scholarly, and it's not so frankly smutty as one might assume. but worth the read "
— Mrjeffreymiller, 2/20/2014 -
" A wonderful quick read that is filled with interesting trivia about US History! "
— J., 2/18/2014 -
" Educational and fun to read. "
— Sue, 2/17/2014 -
" Everyone likes a good scandal. American scandals are interesting, but Mr. Farquhar's book on Royal scandals is even more interesting. "
— Dayla, 2/14/2014 -
" It's not as good as it looks. "
— Taylor, 2/8/2014 -
" Living in the 1800s sucked more than you can imagine. "
— Tresuiri, 1/27/2014 -
" This was light and fun and it was an interesting visit into history. Funny, when we don't get 24 hour news feeds how many things can happen that are never heard of or rarely acknowledged. It was fun to read about the founding fathers, political icons and ?the good old days". "
— Lee, 1/12/2014 -
" This was an enjoyable light read. Lots of short stories that were new to me. "
— Nicole, 1/2/2014 -
" Read this after my trip to Washington DC... quite an eye opener and fun read. "
— Danielle, 12/31/2013 -
" If you like the USA Today/Wikipedia of history, this might be the book for you...not very in depth and most the stories I had heard before. Too much Salem Witch Trial. The Nixon tapes piece was pretty good. "
— Paul, 12/4/2013 -
" Not as good as I hoped. "
— Lauren, 10/5/2013 -
" Gossip for history buffs. "
— Jon, 9/25/2013 -
" This was a totally interesting read in the beginning although it did start to lag towards the end. "
— Meghann, 9/24/2013 -
" I never knew we had a gay president. (An opinion - or whatever - corroborated in Rethinking our Past.) "
— Ellis, 9/24/2013 -
" Great compliation of random bits of American history. If you're looking for a fun historical factoids, this is a good read. "
— Melanie, 8/27/2013 -
" Very interesting non-fiction account of American political figures throughout history. "
— Tatrd, 7/27/2013 -
" A fairly standard collection of scandals and other seedy stories. Many of them are well known, but there are some new ones. Some chapters and sections have a tendency to drag on with unnecessary details. "
— Tom, 3/8/2013 -
" I love these books! The Royal Scandals are a lot more interesting than the American Scandals, though. "
— kayepants, 11/3/2012 -
" Another 'scandelous' book about our American history. Very interesting listen. "
— Jen, 6/24/2012 -
" I think I read this book at a perfect time in American politics. Some of the historical accounts in this book make today's political crazies look down right tame. "
— Samara, 5/18/2012 -
" short, well-written, informative and funny chapters. the things you don't know about history but should...history repeats itself. "
— Preeta, 4/7/2012 -
" Defnitely, an easy and light read that breezes over the swath of history. However, not having known previously the exhumations of Thomas Paine or John Paul Jones or the ends of Francis Scott Key's son or explorer Lewis, I got much out of this collection. "
— Tom, 2/16/2012 -
" A slow but enlightening read. May take quite a while to finish. "
— Libby, 1/23/2012 -
" Interesting and tintillating - nothing has changed in politics from the time of the founding fathers to now. "
— Rmwittig, 1/3/2012 -
" Very interesting non-fiction account of American political figures throughout history. "
— Tatrd, 4/11/2011 -
" Great compliation of random bits of American history. If you're looking for a fun historical factoids, this is a good read. "
— Melanie, 2/16/2011 -
" This was an enjoyable light read. Lots of short stories that were new to me. "
— Nicole, 8/14/2010 -
" Very boring at times, but I thoroughly enjoyed most of the information. "
— Micah, 7/14/2010 -
" Must Read - 1 <br/>Kept My Attention - 5 <br/>Important - 1 <br/>Well-written - 5 <br/>Accessible - 5 "
— Dennis, 5/16/2010 -
" If you like the USA Today/Wikipedia of history, this might be the book for you...not very in depth and most the stories I had heard before. Too much Salem Witch Trial. The Nixon tapes piece was pretty good. "
— Paul, 2/3/2010 -
" Another 'scandelous' book about our American history. Very interesting listen. "
— Jen, 1/23/2010 -
" Not necessarily enlightening, but definitely entertaining. "
— Nathan, 9/17/2009 -
" A slow but enlightening read. May take quite a while to finish. "
— Libby, 8/23/2009 -
" Not the most scholarly, and it's not so frankly smutty as one might assume. but worth the read "
— Mrjeffreymiller, 4/25/2009 -
" The perfect car book. Short, interesting sections that held my attention while waiting in carpool line or at the orthodontist's office, but okay to put down for a few days. "
— Cindy, 2/4/2009 -
" I love these books! The Royal Scandals are a lot more interesting than the American Scandals, though. "
— kayepants, 11/12/2008
About Michael Farquhar
Michael Farquhar is the author of three bestsellers, A Treasury of Royal Scandals, A Treasury of Great American Scandals, and A Treasury of Deception, as well as A Treasury of Foolishly Forgotten Americans. He is coauthor of The Century: History as It Happened on the Front Page of the Capital’s Newspaper. His work has been featured in a number of publications, including The Washington Post, where he was a writer and editor for ten years, specializing in history. He has appeared as a commentator on such programs as the History Channel’s Russia: Land of the Tsars and The French Revolution. He lives in Washington, DC.
About Johnny Heller
Johnny Heller, winner of numerous Earphones and Audie Awards, was named a “Golden Voice” by AudioFile magazine in 2019. He has been a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award winner from 2008 through 2013 and he has been named a top voice of 2008 and 2009 and selected as one of the Top 50 Narrators of the Twentieth Century by AudioFile magazine.