The Good, the Bad, and the Mad: Some Weird People in American History

by E. Randall Floyd

In this compellingly off-beat peek into America's past, E. Randall Floyd examines a fascinating array of men and women who achieved fame, fortune, or notoriety because (or in spite of) their glaring peculiarities. Did you know that: Stonewall Jackson was as renowned for his odd personal habits as for his daring flank attacks? Conan the Barbarian author Robert Howard lived all his life with his mother and committed suicide immediately after she died? All of General Custer's Indian scouts survived the Battle of Little Bighorn because he'd fired them just hours before? Discover why financier Jay Gould was known as "the most hated man in America," who called social activist Jane Addams "the most dangerous woman in America," and how shy photographer's assistant Edgar Cayce achieved the title of "America's most mysterious man." They're all right here in The Good, The Bad & The Mad.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, American History, Historical, Humor

176 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable --and fast--read about forty of the strangest people in American history. Some I think are very well-known but more are not so famous. And a couple are "weirdos" whom I had never heard of. To me, the best known "madman" was Nikola Tesla, one of the greatest inventive geniuses of history. A shy, reclusive man born in Croatia, he used a creative visualization to "see" some kind of apparatus and then develop it. Unfortunately, many of his ideas were years ahead of his time, such as alternating current. Other men, such as Edison, often received the credit for his ideas. Another of the more incredible persons in the book is Ehrich Weiss, better known as Harry Houdini. He became one of the greatest entertainers in history, perhaps best known as an amazing escape artist. More fascinating to me was his campaign to expose psychics and mediums as frauds. Some of the strange people are in the book due to their strange ideas, such as Cyrus Read Teed. Teed not only believed that the Earth is hollow, but that we are inside the Earth. He went on to found a utopian society in Florida. Other crackpots with crazy ideas include Madame Blavatsky and Ignatius Donnelly. Among the bad, we have Colonel John Chivington who led an attack on a peaceful Indian village at Sand Creek, Colorado. And how about Marie Laveau, voodoo queen of New Orleans? One character I knew nothing about was Bernarr MacFadden, "the Father of Physical Culture." Some of his ideas were harmful to others-and for himself as well, though his emphases on exercise and eating less were surely more to the good...? Others included in the book are "Stonewall" Jackson, Sarah Winchester, H.P. Lovecraft, and the Emperor of San Francisco, Joshua Norton.

[Judd · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would make an awesome toilet book. Each chapter is approximately three to four pages long and not particularly dense. One chapter per, uh, visit should do the trick. Two if you suffer from constipation. This book wasn't inherently good or bad. The folks presented within are an interesting lot but I wouldn't consider them all "weird" as the author proclaims. The information given for each character is brief but thorough enough to get a decent grasp on who they were.  If anything, this book should entice the reader to delve further into the lives of their favorites. The reason for the average rating is that I was neither compelled nor bored with the content. A solid read but not necessarily a memorable one.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really disliked the title and subtitle, especially once I began reading the stories contained in the book. On the other hand, it goes into the stories of people who are either overlooked or misunderstood in American history. Some have historical significance, others are just interesting to read about.
Unfortunately, there are minor factual errors in chapters about people I had already known a lot about, which means there might be others in the biographies of people I knew less about. In his chapters about authors, it seemed as if Mr. Floyd had read about their works, but not the works themselves.
Still, for light reading and a lot of starting points, the book is good enough to read, and perhaps better than average if you can just ignore the chapter subheads in the table of contents...

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting and entertaining mix of people I'd heard about and people I knew nothing about. I wish Floyd had provided a bibliography of the sources of his information. I'd like to read more about many of the people included, and check up on a few of his facts. I particularly want to read more about James Churchward, Ignatius Donnelly, Marcus Garvey, Hetty Green (she never washed her underwear so they would last longer--eew!), Robert E. Howard, Marie Laveau, H.P. Lovecraft, Cotton Mather, James McGready, and Cyrus Read Teed. A nice starting place for research on American eccentrics!

[SkyCaptain · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of short biographies about some interesting people in American history. Some of the people are relatively well know, such as Houdini, Tesla, and P.T. Barnum. Others were introduced to me for the first time. Each biography is short and does not give much detail. There were definitely people that I wish there were more details about, however, this is a good book to give you an overview and perhaps pique your interest in reading a more comprehensive biography. I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys reading biographies. It is also a good bedtime book because each biography only takes a few minutes to read.

[Sarah Yasin]

the facts on Robert E. Howard are incorrect. He did not die after his mother, she lived a few hours in a coma. Also, he earned 6 grand in the year before his death, while this book says he never made more that 2 grand in a year. The thing about REH is he massaged the truth in his letters, so those cannot be taken at face value.

Otherwise it's a good chapter which captures the spirit of how weird REH's life was.

[lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book seems like there was a list of names given, then vague notes were written on each person and the manuscript was published without being looked at again. Some info was interesting, but I didn't get a feel for what each person was about. Disappointing.

[Alise · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book felt like a compilation of quite hastily written articles. Not to mention the quite funny historical errors (kings of France by end of 19th century :)). I had expected amazing accounts of strangeness/weirdness, this just felt half-baked and quite ordinary.

[Chad Rexin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories of some lesser known characters in US history. Some are interesting, but others showed a darker side of US history.

[Googoogjoob · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick, light read; I got this book in middle school, I guess, and read and reread it a few times, as I didn't have access to many fresh or interesting books at the time. This is light, fluffy pop history. Each chapter treats, in 3-6 pages, a character from American history, with no real connecting thread other than that Floyd, the author, thinks they're interesting. These pocket biographies are brisk, and not exactly brimming with analysis or context.

Some of the people covered are, as promised, pretty weird- Cyrus Reed Teed, AKA Koresh; Edgar Cayce; Emperor Norton. Some of them are not very weird at all by modern standards, and were really just benign misfits- eg Isadora Duncan, Jane Addams, Nikola Tesla. Many may or may not be very weird, but are included, seemingly, more on the basis of their difficult historical legacies- William Walker, Wovoka, Marcus Garvey, George Custer, Henry Wirz.

This book certainly introduced me to a bunch of figures I'd never have learned about otherwise, at least in the context of middle school; but it's also a dead end. The lack of context or analysis (the figures profiled aren't even sorted in any way) means the book is, at core, very dry, and the lack of a bibliography doesn't really encourage follow-up reading.

[Brad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, a very strange and not very well-written book. Floyd has picked out some 40 people from the 1700's and (mostly) 1800's in American history and has written little mini-biographies of four to five pages on each person. I would be curious as to how the author selected the subjects of his little profiles, but since this book was written in 1999 I'm not sure that Floyd would remember. The best thing I can say about this book is that it could spark interest in finding out more about some of the people Floyd writes about. For example, his first subject is Jane Addams, who I have certainly heard of but about whom I know almost nothing. I might have to track down a biography of her.

[Jeni Enjaian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book only because I needed a book to read at the same time that my students read. Since I had read most of the other books in my classroom collection, I picked up this one. I find that Floyd tried too hard to make the people profiled fit into the three categories listed in the title. Also, with only 3-5 pages for each person, Floyd inevitably summarizes large portions of the person's life. The format also does not work for young adults either, no pictures plus a large amount of text crammed on each page. Nope.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved this book as a young teenager, but that was before I could use the internet to look things up and compare sources. It just doesn’t hold up for me. I credit it for my early interest in historical American oddballs (Emperor Norton and Sarah Winchester specifically), but I don’t recommend it.

[Yoursexylibrarian · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book held promise due to its quarky subject matter. Unfortunately, the writing is bland and there are no photos or illustrations of the subjects being discussed.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this with my 12year old who enjoys offbeat history. Each chapter covers a differnet historical figure. Some were more interesting than others.

[Broughps · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed the "weird" people written about. Like the fast pace of each chapter.

[Bob Marcacci · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mildly interesting book of random famous and infamous US personages that lacks the depth to be really memorable.

[Oakdoorframe]

dnf at 43 pages. Just not interesting enough for me to contuine

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Good, the Bad, and the Mad is a collection of thirty-seven brief stories on notable people in American History, well, according to the author at least.

Author E. Randall Floyd writes an introduction explaining his fascination with "weirdos" in American History and how he came to compile and write this short volume.

This book is a very, very short glimpse into the lives and histories of these people and provides biographies of each one. By no means is The Good, the Bad, and the Mad detailed in any way, but is more suited to whetting our appetites and sparking our interest in the array of men and women mentioned. For some readers, the book may motivate you to seek out more explicit volumes on the people that actually do interest you!

The most interesting figures featured in this book are P.T. Barnum (the co-founder of Barnum and Bailey Circus), the genius Lizzie Borden (who has always managed to charm me), author Ambrose Bierce (An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is amazing!), and Sarah Winchester of the crazy mansion with staircases leading to nowhere (which I'm sure inspired Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves and Stephen King's Rose Red to some extent).

Most of the other people featured weren't interesting to me at all and I found their stories quite boring. Overall, I would consider this book an "airplane read" -- not too deep but enjoyable enough to breeze through and walk away with a little more knowledge than you previously had.

Other books by E. Randall Floyd include 100 of the World's Greatest Mysteries: Strange Secrets, More Great Southern Mysteries, and Deep in the Heart.

Read more book reviews at http://dreamworldbooks.com.

[Tom Darrow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Formulaic and poorly written. Each 5-7 page chapter is about a new person. The story arcs are the same for each one. He introduces the person with some story about them, gets to their early life, their trials and downfall. But for as short as these chapters are, he repeats a lot of the same information. I didn’t see any egregious factual errors, but the style was very repetitive. Many of the stories I already knew, but, to his credit, he had some more obscure ones. I was encouraged to read more about some of them elsewhere because of this book.

So, overall, not award winning scholarship or writing, but a decent distraction and intro to some interesting people.

[Skjam! · Rating 3 out of 5]

American history is full of offbeat people, some downright weird. The author was (like many a lad) fascinated by their stories when he was young. Then he got to interview Erich von Daeniken (Chariots of the Gods) and decided to make writing about unusual people a full-time hobby. This book is one of the results.

It contains 37 mini-biographies of interesting people in American history, arranged alphabetically from Jane Addams (social worker and pacifist) to Wovoka (Native American mystic and the leader of the “Ghost Dance” movement.) There are the really obvious candidates, like “Emperor” Joshua Norton of San Francisco and Nikola Tesla (eccentric inventor.) But there are also more obscure figures, like Giacomo Beltrami, who didn’t quite discover the source of the Mississippi, and Bernarr MacFadden (health nut.)

The writing is okay, but these are very short biographies, and some of the subjects have had entire (and much better) books written about them. There are no illustrations, no citations or bibliography, and no index. Your college professor isn’t going to accept this as a source!

While written for adults, I think this book would best serve as a gift to a bright teenager who can then look further for more information about any person that catches their fancy. It’s a good book for a quick read, and some interesting historical moments.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was okay. I liked the premise... weird, crazy people in American History, but I had two major problems with it. One the stories were arranged alphabetically by person instead of chronologically or by topic, both of which would have made more sense. For example there was a bunch of stories of late 19th/early 20th century Mysticism which all referenced each other and since I didn't know a lot about that it would have been nice to read them back to back. And even though I know a lot about the Civil War it still would have been nice to have them all as a cluster.

Secondly I found it a bit repetitive and the similar chapters not detailed enough to really be worthy of separate chapters. This book is not for the casual nonfiction reader. Thinking back this maybe should have just been the Bad and the Mad since it did not really focus on the "good" that would b typical in a non fiction work.

[Carly · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not good.

I hate to admit it, but maybe there was a reason (as Dusty tole me) that the book was in the bargin bin at Barnes and Noble.

I was really drawn to this book because I like to learn about people in history. But Floyd was too broad and too general. In the introduction, he said he would be, but even with his own warning, I found myself feeling something was missing.

The organization of a book also contributes to how well it reads. And Floyd failed terribly on this count. It it organized alphabetically...and I found myself jumping from 1700s to the 1930s, then to the 1860s...it would have been MUCH easier for me to read if it were chronological...

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is light reading, a perfect beach book. Each chapter is a short biography of a person from American history, some obscure, some not.
This is good for someone who is history-minded but not in the mood to read a full book about a particular historical figure. This is light stuff, sometimes a little overly dramatic and sometimes a little too accepting of "alternative" theories, but it is a fun read and a good starting point.

[David Allen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This survey of American eccentrics was in the remainder bin at B&N and there were enough intriguing names that it seemed a worthwhile purchase. And it was, but just barely. I took it less seriously after noticing the Lovecraft piece steals a phrase ("lurkers in the earth and beyond the barriers of time") from the back cover of the '70s HPL paperback I was reading. Needed a bibliography and an editor.

[Becky Loader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Holy moly rocky. This little book is crammed full of mini-bios of famous people--some I had heard of and some I had not. Just enough information is given to pique your interest in reading a full-scale biography of: Madame Blavatsky (noted Spiritualist), Isadora Duncan (modern dancer before her time), Robert E. Howard ("Conan the Barbarian"), Marie Laveau (New Orleans voodoo queen), Nikola Tesla (electric genius), and more. Not academic at all, but tantalizing!

[Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, since the book is a collection of little essays about eccentric personalities from American history, it's easy to read in small, short sessions.... like on the toilet.... which is where I read it. It was a pleasant and edifying use of that time. Perfect bathroom read. And, that's high praise from me.

[Dianne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't find one new piece of information in this book --not one. That made it a pretty dull read. I suppose if you didn't know anything about some of these people it might be interesting ...but it felt like a rehash of stale facts to me.

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is nothing wrong with this book, per se. It has been sitting on the nightstand, partially read for about a year and half. Many other books have been started and finished, while this book, for whatever reason doesn't beg my attention as a reader.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book while on vacation in Las Vegas! It was an interesting little read. Mr. Chivington in Colorado, just was determined to massacre all the Indians there, and free and protect the slaves. That was not nice.