Hidden History

Little-known, hidden or unusual stories from history.

Updated September 25, 2023
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Slaying the dragon : a secret history of Dungeons & Dragons
Riggs, Ben
Paper Book
Role-playing game historian Ben Riggs unveils the secret history of TSR-- the company that unleashed imaginations with Dungeons & Dragons, was driven into ruin by disastrous management decisions, and then saved by their bitterest rival. "Ben Riggs manages to...
Empire of pain : the secret history of the Sackler dynasty
Keefe, Patrick Radden
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR * A grand, devastating portrait of three generations of the Sackler family, famed for their philanthropy, whose fortune was built by Valium and whose reputation was destroyed by OxyContin. From...
American Sherlock : murder, forensics, and the birth of American CSI
Dawson, Kate Winkler
Paper Book
Known as the 'American Sherlock Holmes,' Edward Oscar Heinrich was one of America's greatest forensic scientists, with a skill level that seemed almost supernatural. Heinrich spearheaded the invention of new forensic tools that police still use today, including blood spatter analysis, ballistics,...
Liberty is sweet : the hidden history of the American Revolution
Holton, Woody
Paper Book
A "deeply researched and bracing retelling" (Annette Gordon-Reed, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian) of the American Revolution, showing how the Founders were influenced by overlooked Americans--women, Native Americans, African Americans, and religious dissenters. Using more than...
Beyond measure : the hidden history of measurement from cubits to quantum constants
Vincent, James (Journalist)
Paper Book
A New Yorker Best Book of 2022 Finalist for the 2023 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Science & Technology A vibrant account of how measurement has invisibly shaped our world, from ancient civilizations to the modern day. From the cubit to the kilogram, the...
The facemaker : a visionary surgeon's battle to mend the disfigured soldiers of World War I
Fitzharris, Lindsey
Paper Book
A New York Times Bestseller Finalist for the 2022 Kirkus Prize | Named a best book of the year by The Guardian "Enthralling. Harrowing. Heartbreaking. And utterly redemptive. Lindsey Fitzharris hit this one out of the park." --Erik Larson, author of...
Sisters in resistance : how a German spy, a banker's wife, and Mussolini's daughter outwitted the Nazis
Mazzeo, Tilar J.
Paper Book
In a tale as twisted as any spy thriller, discover how three women delivered critical evidence of Axis war crimes to Allied forces during World War II: "A tantalizingly novelistic history lesson" (Kirkus).   In 1944, news of secret diaries kept by...
This land is their land : the Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the troubled history of Thanksgiving
Silverman, David J.
Paper Book
Ahead of the 400th anniversary of the first Thanksgiving, a new look at the Plymouth colony's founding events, told for the first time with Wampanoag people at the heart of the story.In March 1621, when Plymouth's survival was hanging in the balance, the Wampanoag sachem (or chief),...

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