The Formosa Fraud

The Formosa Fraud PDF Author: Graham Earnshaw
Publisher: Earnshaw Books Limited
ISBN: 9789888422128
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
More than 300 years ago, the island of Taiwan was a topic of hot controversy in London, thanks to a stupendous fraud perpetrated by a Frenchman claiming to have been born on the island. He made highly controversial claims about the life and the history of Taiwan, then called Formosa, and his book on the subject was a publishing sensation in London in 1704. His name, George Psalmanazar, was fake, and he never told anyone what his real name was or where he came from. But his Formosan stories of mass killings of young boys, of people living underground, of elephants and camels and gold mines was for a time widely accepted, including even by the Bishop of London who invited Psalmanazar to teach his (fake) Formosan language at Oxford University. This is the story of one of the great frauds in literary history.

The Formosa Fraud

The Formosa Fraud PDF Author: Graham Earnshaw
Publisher: Earnshaw Books Limited
ISBN: 9789888422128
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
More than 300 years ago, the island of Taiwan was a topic of hot controversy in London, thanks to a stupendous fraud perpetrated by a Frenchman claiming to have been born on the island. He made highly controversial claims about the life and the history of Taiwan, then called Formosa, and his book on the subject was a publishing sensation in London in 1704. His name, George Psalmanazar, was fake, and he never told anyone what his real name was or where he came from. But his Formosan stories of mass killings of young boys, of people living underground, of elephants and camels and gold mines was for a time widely accepted, including even by the Bishop of London who invited Psalmanazar to teach his (fake) Formosan language at Oxford University. This is the story of one of the great frauds in literary history.

A Treasury of Deception

A Treasury of Deception PDF Author: Michael Farquhar
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9780143035442
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
We may say that honesty is the best policy, but history—to say nothing of business, politics, and the media—suggests otherwise. In this infinitely citable book, the author of two bestselling treasuries of scandal recounts some of the greatest deceptions of all time. With what forged document did the Vatican lay claim to much of Europe? Who wrote Hitler’s diaries? Why do millions still believe the vague doggerel that Nostradamus passed off as prophecy? Organizing his material by theme (con artists, the press, military trickery, scientific fraud, imposters, great escapes, and more), Michael Farquhar takes in everything from the hoodwinking of Hitler to Vincent “the Chin” Gigante’s thirty-year crazy act. A Treasury of Deception is a zestful, gossipy exposé—and celebration—of mendacity. A Treasury of Deception also includes: Ten tricksters from scripture Ten great liars in literature Ten egregious examples of modern American doublespeak Ten classic deceptions from Greek mythology

The Formosa Fraud

The Formosa Fraud PDF Author: Graham Earnshaw
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789888422135
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


Formosa Betrayed

Formosa Betrayed PDF Author: George H. Kerr
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781788691550
Category : Taiwan
Languages : en
Pages : 520

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Book Description
Formosa Betrayed is the authoritative account of the Kuomintang takeover of Taiwan and the 1947 "228 Incident" in which tens of thousands of Taiwanese people - an entire generation of intellectuals and leaders - were massacred by the new government. Kerr was there, knew Taiwan well, and paints a compelling picture of Taiwan's tragic past.

How to Turn Down a Billion Dollars

How to Turn Down a Billion Dollars PDF Author: Billy Gallagher
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1250108624
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description
"In the grand tradition of Ben Mezrich's The Accidental Billionaires (2009)... an engaging look into a fascinating subculture of millions." —Booklist "Breezy...How to Turn Down a Billion Dollars ably if uncritically chronicles the short history of a young company catering to young users, with a young chief executive, and reveals, intentionally or not, the limitations that come with that combination." —Wall Street Journal The improbable and exhilarating story of the rise of Snapchat from a frat boy fantasy to a multi-billion dollar internet unicorn that has dramatically changed the way we communicate. In 2013 Evan Spiegel, the brash CEO of the social network Snapchat, and his co-founder Bobby Murphy stunned the press when they walked away from a three-billion-dollar offer from Facebook: how could an app teenagers use to text dirty photos dream of a higher valuation? Was this hubris, or genius? In How to Turn Down a Billion Dollars, tech journalist Billy Gallagher takes us inside the rise of one of Silicon Valley's hottest start-ups. Snapchat developed from a simple wish for disappearing pictures as Stanford junior Reggie Brown nursed regrets about photos he had sent. After an epic feud between best friends, Brown lost his stake in the company, while Spiegel has gone on to make a name for himself as a visionary—if ruthless—CEO worth billions, linked to celebrities like Taylor Swift and his wife, Miranda Kerr. A fellow Stanford undergrad and fraternity brother of the company’s founding trio, Gallagher has covered Snapchat from the start. He brings unique access to a company Bloomberg Business called “a cipher in the Silicon Valley technology community.” Gallagher offers insight into challenges Snapchat faces as it transitions from a playful app to one of the tech industry’s preeminent public companies. In the tradition of great business narratives, How to Turn Down a Billion Dollars offers the definitive account of a company whose goal is no less than to remake the future of entertainment.

A General Theory of the Civil Action

A General Theory of the Civil Action PDF Author: Thomas Joseph Asma
Publisher: Thomas Asma
ISBN: 1732839808
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 699

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Book Description
A general theory of the civil action.

Among the Head-hunters of Formosa

Among the Head-hunters of Formosa PDF Author: Janet B. Montgomery McGovern
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Ethnology
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description


Taiwan in 100 Books

Taiwan in 100 Books PDF Author: John Grant Ross
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781788692007
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
Taiwan in 100 Books is the distillation of hundreds of titles and decades of reading into a riveting narrative of Taiwan from the early sixteenth century to the present. Long-time resident John Ross, the author of You Don't Know China and Formosan Odyssey, delves into the most acclaimed, interesting, and influential books on Taiwan, along with some personal favorites. Most entries are non-fiction works originally published in English (translated Chinese-language books will be covered in a separate upcoming title). Relive Taiwan's most dramatic historical event in Lord of Formosa and Lost Colony. Learn about the White Terror in A Pail of Oysters, Green Island, and Formosa Betrayed. Discover dated "time capsule" accounts such as Flight to Formosa and Taipei After Dark, and others like John Slimming's Green Plums and a Bamboo Horse that have stood the test of time. Turn the pages of obscure books such as The Jing Affair and Dragon Hotel, undeserved best-sellers like the The Soong Dynasty, and some of the best academic works. Experience unique facets of life in Taiwan in Shots from the Hip: Sex, Drugs and the Tao and Barbarian at the Gate: From the American Suburbs to the Taiwanese Army. Follow authors on their quests, whether conservationists going undercover to expose the illegal wildlife trade, adoptees returning to find their biological parents, or foodies in search of the perfect beef noodle soup. Taiwan in 100 Books is an accessible introduction to works on the country and and an enjoyable shortcut to understanding the country's history and culture. It's also a bibliophile's elixir packed with the backstories of the authors and the books themselves; there are tales of outrageous literary fraud, lost manuscripts, banned books, and publishing skulduggery.

Banvard's Folly

Banvard's Folly PDF Author: Paul Collins
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1466892056
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
“Hearteningly strange . . . Collins exhumes little-known figures [and] recounts their perversely inspiring battles against the more logical ways of the world.” —The Onion Here are thirteen unforgettable portraits of forgotten people: men and women who might have claimed their share of renown but who, whether from ill timing, skullduggery, monomania, the tinge of madness, or plain bad luck—or perhaps some combination of them all—leapt straight from life into thankless obscurity. Collins brings them back to glorious life. John Banvard was an artist whose colossal panoramic canvasses (one behemoth depiction of the entire eastern shore of the Mississippi River was simply known as “The Three Mile Painting”) made him the richest and most famous artist of his day . . . before he decided to go head to head with P. T. Barnum. René Blondot was a distinguished French physicist whose celebrated discovery of a new form of radiation, called the N-Ray, went terribly awry. At the tender age of seventeen, William Henry Ireland signed “William Shakespeare” to a book and launched a short but meteoric career as a forger of undiscovered works by the Bard—until he pushed his luck too far. Collins’ love for what he calls the “forgotten ephemera of genius” give his portraits of these figures and the other ten men and women in Banvard’s Folly sympathetic depth and poignant relevance. Their effect is not to make us sneer or revel in schadenfreude; here are no cautionary tales. Rather, here are brief introductions—acts of excavation and reclamation—to people whom history may have forgotten, but whom now we cannot.

The Century of Deception

The Century of Deception PDF Author: Ian Keable
Publisher: Saqi Books
ISBN: 1908906456
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
'Utter joy! A delicious romp through the heyday of balderdash and grand-scale deception, penned by one of the country's finest magical minds.' Derren Brown In 1749, a newspaper advertisement appeared declaring that a man would climb inside a bottle on the stage of a London theatre. Although the crowds turned up in their hundreds to witness the trick, the performer didn't. Over the following decades, elaborate pranks would continue to bamboozle audiences across England. In The Century of Deception, magician and magic historian Ian Keable tells the engrossing stories of these eighteenth-century hoaxes and those who were duped by them. The English public were hoodwinked time and time again, swallowing whole tales of rapping ghosts, a woman who gave birth to rabbits, a levitating Frenchman in a Chinese Temple and outrageous astrological predictions. Not only were the hoaxes widely influential, drawing in celebrities such as Samuel Johnson, Benjamin Franklin and Jonathan Swift, they also inflamed concerns about 'English credulity'. 'Fake news' and 'going viral' may be modern terms, but as this entertaining, eye-opening book shows, these concepts have been with us for centuries. 'A fascinating, witty and beautifully-written book.' Matt Lucas 'Ian Keable's brilliant book has opened my eyes to an incredible world of hoaxers and deceivers that I didn't know even existed. A cracking read filled with extraordinary stories.' Andy Nyman 'A masterful and fascinating journey into a hitherto hidden world of history, mystery and hoaxes.' Richard Wiseman