Bibliofreakblog

Strange But True America by John Hafnor

Here are some of the things I learned reading this book:

• Some folks tried to introduce camels in the old Southwest
• Toni Morrison’s famous novel, Beloved, is based on true events
• America has its own Stonehenge in New Hampshire
• If North Dakota seceded and became its own nation, it would be the third biggest nuclear power
• In the early days of colonization, South Carolina shipped 30,000 t0 50,000 Native American slaves to the Caribbean, which means the exported more slaves than they imported from Africa.  They bought these slaves from other Native American tribes who’d captured enemies in war.  
• There really was a “Headless Horseman” except he was in Texas.
• Abraham Lincoln made a speech while running for president that while he didn’t like slavery, he believed that blacks were inferior to whites and should be kept separated.
• Texas almost sorta accidently nuked New Mexico.

There are a ton of interesting factoids and stories in this book.  But I still had some issues with it.  It’s divided up state by state, but some of the states only mention famous people from there.  For example, the page on my home state of Michigan is devoted entirely to George Custer (who, despite the fact that there is a museum dedicated to him in Monroe, his hometown, most of us Michiganders try to forget is from there), though his military career was mainly spent elsewhere (like, uh, Montana).  Why not talk about the Great Lakes?  The Peninsulas?  The warning shots the U.S. and Canada fire at each other?  The auto industry?  Pontiac’s siege?  Whether or not there were ever any wolverines in the wolverine state?  The copper miners?  Bootleggers across the Detroit River during Prohibition?  The Mackinac Bridge?  But Custer?  CUSTER?  This is ridiculous. 

And it’s not only Michigan that gets the shaft in quirky facts.  Utah’s entry talks just as much about Colorado as it does Utah, as happens with some other states.

I think it’d be better to not have this book divided up into states and just say that they are tales from around the U.S.  Though then I suppose that they would have to change the subtitle to something other than “Weird Tales from All 50 States”.

The other thing that annoyed me was the illustrations.  The book is illustrated by Dale Crawford, who does a nice enough job, as you can see by this picture of Ethan Allen that accompanies the entry for Vermont.  I just think that maps and original sketches or photos of the noteworthy people and places would have been more effective.

Overall, I picked up some good tidbits, and think it’s a fun book to keep on the coffee table or even the bathroom.  

You can find out more about this book, and see more pictures at their website.

 
Buy Strange But True, America: Weird Tales from All 50 States on Amazon

If you like this book/author, you might like:

(my reviews in blue)

One Vast Winter Count: The Native American West before Lewis and Clark by Colin G. Calloway
Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World by Jack Weatherford
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W Loewen
1491: New Revelations about the Americas before Columbus  by Thomas C. Mann 
1421: The Year China Discovered America by Gavin Menzies
Dead Men Do Tell Tales by William R. Maples, PhD & Michael Browning
American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham
Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
1776 by David McCullough
John Adams by David McCullough
Freakonomics by  Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
Words to the Wise  by Michael Sheehan

Other works by John Hafnor, illustrated by Dale Crawford:

Strange but True, Colorado: Weird Tales of the Wild West

Other works by John Hafnor:

Black Hills Believables: Strange-but-true Tales of the Old West 

Other works by Dale Crawford:

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