Kenneth B. Platnick

I bought this book for rather cheap at the Darnestown Presbyterian Church Bazaar. It caught my eye, and as the money goes to a good cause, I can't think of a reason not to buy any book that strikes my fancy there. As with most books that I get, this one will either end up passed on to a friend or donated to a library (or preferably The Book Thing.) What are books for if not to pass on?

This is a fun little collection of historical mysteries, some now solved, some still hotly debated, a few intriguingly continuing to make the rounds. While the book does trot up the old standbys in the form of Jack the Ripper, Atlantis, and a bit confusingly the Yeti and Loch Ness Monster, there were a number of more intriguing and legitimate cases to be found between its covers. Perhaps most fun, for me, were the Man in the Iron Mask and The Lost Dauphin (Louis XVII) which apparently is still being tossed around in French royalist circles to this day. I had fun looking up the various cases after reading the more intriguing ones and seeing their current states.

This book isn't the best for historical accuracy or delving deep into its mysteries, but it never really claims to offer more than intriguing summaries. It was a delightful, quick read and something I can imagine devouring time and time again as a kid. This would be a fun book to pass on to a younger crowd to get them interested in history, or different time periods. The bibliography at the back (in the Notes section) may be a bit lacking, but the stories themselves would likely intrigue enough to have the kid start doing research on their own.

In that way, I'd say this book more than serves its purpose. If only it had included The Princes in the Tower...… (altro)

1377 Great Mysteries of History, by Kenneth B. Platnick (read 2 Jan 1976) This isn't much of a book, but some of the mysteries talked about are interesting. The Death of Dag Hammarskjold was, I said back then, too recent to interest me. The "perfect" murder of Judge Godfrey--in Charles II's time, just after Titus Oates had given him his deposition, is one of the mysteries. The death of Amy Robsart--Scott's Kenilworth is based on that event, but Scott changed the time. There is a chapter on Jack the Ripper--long a subject I have read about. There is a chapter on The Man in the Iron Mask, and one on Louis XVII--was James John Audubon Louis XVII? There is a chapter on Anastasia, a subject which then fascinated me endlessly--but apparently she died we now know at Ekenterinberg in 1918 like all the rest of her family. Roanoke Island doesn't seem too mysterious to me. Did Alexander I live on? Judge Crater--apparently now solved? Stonehenge is full of mystery.… (altro)