Shirley J. Adult Non-Fiction Sensationalized headlines and the real stories behind them
The President's Vamppire: Strange-But-True Tales of the United States of America by Robert Damon Schneck * I only read 92 pages
Just like the tabloids that tempt us with those outrageous headlines to get us to buy a copy this book was just like that. The tales told sound so intriguing from the title but sadly the actual stories were not so exciting. For instance as fun as the title is and promises a very interesting tale indeed, it isn't. The President shown is Andrew Johnson and the tale behind the headline is that he gave a stay of execution to a Portuguese sailor accused of sucking the blood from people he had attacked aboard the ship. An eyewitness stumbled upon the man "feeding". While his execution was called for, Andrew Johnson without any fanfare spared the man's life but allowed that he serve out his life in prison. No other details were given as to why the President felt leniency should be shown in the case. That is the dry way other of the stories are, too. I was looking for something a little spicier with surprising details behind the headlines, but, alas after 92 pages it was just one dry story after another. Though there are 232 pages to the book, I was done at 92. I can't recommend this title because I found it to be less than promised and the stories so dry it was like licking sand.
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