Phantom Hitchhikers and Other Urban Legends

Phantom Hitchhikers and Other Urban Legends PDF Author: Albert Jack
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101619341
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 163

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Book Description
Have you heard the one about… • Walt Disney’s frozen body? • Coca-Cola owning Santa Claus? • Alligators living in New York City sewers? We all love a good story. But where do the urban legends, conspiracy theories, and old wives’ tales we hear every day really originate? Albert Jack explores the best, strangest, and funniest of the tales so many of us take as gospel, and uncovers some eye-popping true stories that are even more far-fetched than their mythical counterparts. From Robin Hood to JFK’s brain, from hamsters under carpets to mysterious travelers, you’ll never be short of a scary or bizarre anecdote again.

Phantom Hitchhikers and Other Urban Legends

Phantom Hitchhikers and Other Urban Legends PDF Author: Albert Jack
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101619341
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 163

Get Book Here

Book Description
Have you heard the one about… • Walt Disney’s frozen body? • Coca-Cola owning Santa Claus? • Alligators living in New York City sewers? We all love a good story. But where do the urban legends, conspiracy theories, and old wives’ tales we hear every day really originate? Albert Jack explores the best, strangest, and funniest of the tales so many of us take as gospel, and uncovers some eye-popping true stories that are even more far-fetched than their mythical counterparts. From Robin Hood to JFK’s brain, from hamsters under carpets to mysterious travelers, you’ll never be short of a scary or bizarre anecdote again.

A Brief History of Superheroes

A Brief History of Superheroes PDF Author: Brian J. Robb
Publisher: Robinson
ISBN: 1472110706
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 205

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Book Description
A fascinating written exploration of the superhero phenomenon, from its beginnings in the depths of Great Depression to the blockbuster movies of today. For over 90 years, superheroes have been interrogated, deconstructed, and reinvented. In this wide-ranging study, Robb looks at the diverse characters, their creators, and the ways in which their creations have been reinvented for successive generations. Inevitably, the focus is on the United States, but the context is international, including an examination of characters developed in India and Japan in reaction to the traditional American hero. Sections examine: the birth of the superhero, including Superman, in 1938; the DC family (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and The Justice Society/League of America), from the 1940s to the 1960s; the superheroes enlistment in the war effort in the 1940s and 50s; their neutering by the Comics Code; the challenge to DC from the Marvel family (The Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and The X-Men), from the 1960s to the 1980s; the superhero as complex anti-hero; superheroes deconstructed in the 1980s (The Watchmen and Frank Miller’s Batman), and their politicization; independent comic book creators and new publishers in the 1980s and 90s; superheroes in retreat, and their rebirth at the movies in blockbusters from Batman to Spider-Man and The Avengers.

The talkSPORT Book of Premier League Legends

The talkSPORT Book of Premier League Legends PDF Author: Bill Borrows
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1849839425
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
In this wonderful celebration of all that is best about the world's greatest football league, talkSPORT has taken on the challenge of listing the 100 greatest Premiership legends. Featuring contributions from many of talkSPORT's presenters, including Alan Brazil, Darren Gough and Stan Collymore, the talkSPORT team has drawn up its definitive listing of Premiership stars. Of course, being talkSPORT, nothing is straightforward and the opinions are hotly debated. Some surprising names make into the list, while others are relegated to the bottom or even fail to appear at all. Who comes out on top: Gianfranco Zola or Alan Shearer? How do you decide who's in and who's out from 20 years of footballing genius? Each of the stars is fully profiled, with surprising and fascinating information revealed about all of them, and their individual ranking in the list is fully justified. In short, this book will not only provide great football memories of moments that won leagues, spared clubs from relegation, and drew stunned silence from watching crowds, but cause much controversy - just like talkSPORT itself.

Legends of Vietnam

Legends of Vietnam PDF Author: Nghia M. Vo
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786490608
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
Legends are a mirror of the culture that creates them, a revealing lens through which to observe society, religion, history, and traditions. This volume explores Vietnamese legends from 1321 to today--tales of gods, spirits, ghosts, giants, extraordinary individuals, heroes, common people, and animals. It explains the mores, thought processes, and religions that formed the genesis of Vietnamese legends, traces the development of legends through time and space, and highlights the historical and social differences between northern and southern legends. Over time, this work shows, Vietnamese legends have evolved from a 14th century means of government propaganda to become a form of news, entertainment, and thought for the masses.

Children born of war in the twentieth century

Children born of war in the twentieth century PDF Author: Sabine Lee
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 152610461X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
This book explores the life courses of children born of war in different twentieth-century conflicts, including the Second World War, the Vietnam War, the Bosnian War, the Rwandan Genocide and the LRA conflict. It investigates both governmental and military policies vis-à-vis children born of war and their mothers, as well as family and local community attitudes, building a complex picture of the multi-layered challenges faced by many children born of war within their post-conflict receptor communities. Based on extensive archival research, the book also uses oral history and participatory research methods which allow the author to add the voices of the children born of war to historical analysis.

Phantom Hitchhikers and Decoy Ducks

Phantom Hitchhikers and Decoy Ducks PDF Author: Albert Jack
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141903473
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
'Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction. Was Sir Winston Churchill really a Druid? Did Charlie Chaplin lose a lookalike competition? Did The Who's drummer Keith Moon drive his Rolls Royce into a swimming pool? The man with the answers is Albert Jack...' - Daily Express From Walt Disney's frozen head to the kidnap of JFK's brain, Albert Jack gathers together all the strangest, sickest, funniest and most unforgettable urban legends and recounts them with his usual deadpan humour. But this is more than just a collection of urban legends, it is also a detective story. Exploring the real events behind conspiracy theories, the exaggerations of history and the assumptions of old wives’ tales, Albert Jack shows us that the truth can definitely be stranger than fiction...

The Legend of John Wilkes Booth

The Legend of John Wilkes Booth PDF Author: C. Wyatt Evans
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
"The Legend of John Wilkes Booth is a story of how collective memories and popular histories collide with, clash, and sometimes overcome mainstream accounts of the past. It offers an alternate venue for studying the workings of Civil War memory in American culture and demonstrates how (and why) culture produced at the grassroots level can challenge the official version of events."--BOOK JACKET.

SL Benfica

SL Benfica PDF Author: Heather Williams
Publisher: Weigl Publishers
ISBN: 1791105998
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 32

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Book Description
Did you know that SL Benfica is one of the most decorated soccer clubs in Europe? The team has won 78 major trophies. Learn more exciting facts about this fascinating soccer club in SL Benfica, an Inside Professional Soccer book.

Forgotten African American Firsts

Forgotten African American Firsts PDF Author: Hans Ostrom
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1440875367
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
This book introduces students to African-American innovators and their contributions to art, entertainment, sports, politics, religion, business, and popular culture. While the achievements of such individuals as Barack Obama, Toni Morrison, and Thurgood Marshall are well known, many accomplished African Americans have been largely forgotten or deliberately erased from the historical record in America. This volume introduces students to those African Americans whose successes in entertainment, business, sports, politics, and other fields remain poorly understood. Dr. Charles Drew, whose pioneering research on blood transfusions saved thousands of lives during World War II; Mae Jemison, an engineer who in 1992 became the first African American woman to travel in outer space; and Ethel Waters, the first African American to star in her own television show, are among those chronicled in Forgotten African American Firsts. With nearly 150 entries across 17 categories, this book has been carefully curated to showcase the inspiring stories of African Americans whose hard work, courage, and talent have led the course of history in the United States and around the world.

Resting Places

Resting Places PDF Author: Scott Wilson
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786479922
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 887

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Book Description
In its third edition, this massive reference work lists the final resting places of more than 14,000 people from a wide range of fields, including politics, the military, the arts, crime, sports and popular culture. Many entries are new to this edition. Each listing provides birth and death dates, a brief summary of the subject's claim to fame and their burial site location or as much as is known. Grave location within a cemetery is provided in many cases, as well as places of cremation and sites where ashes were scattered. Source information is provided.