What do you think?
Rate this book
Cele mai mari scandaluri ale istoriei - povestiri şocante despre oameni celebri
Dorinţa de îmbogăţire rapidă, setea de putere, slăbiciunea pentru femeile frumoase, orgoliul nemăsurat... sunt doar câteva dintre cauzele izbucnirii unor scandaluri celebre. De ce ne fascinează ele? Din simplă curiozitate, din încercarea de a înţelege natura umană sau, pur şi simplu, din satisfacţia meschină de a vedea că şi cei mari pot greşi?... Pentru că toti suntem interesati de afacerea Watergate, de Biroul Oval al lui Clinton şi al Monicăi Lewinski sau de nebănuita viață intimă a lui Ceaikovski, pe scurt, de marile scandaluri ale istoriei. Poveştile de culise, reacţiile personajelor implicate, conescintele fiecărui scandal, toate sunt analizate amănunţit şi bine documentat în paginile acestei cărţi fascinante.
- GenresNonfictionHistory
264 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
5 people are currently reading
113 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
September 15, 2017
When will people who are in high and public positions realize that they shouldn't get involved in illegal activities or naughty behavior.....they always get caught up by their own greed/lust. It reminds me of the embezzler who seems to forget that there are such things as audits that will eventually cook their goose when they cook the books.
The author looks at a mixed bag of 13 individuals who thought they could beat the system (and in some cases almost did)....everyone from Jimmy Swaggart to Anthony Blunt. This is a book that can be read at leisure and at times may make you chuckle at the blind stupidity of those who think they are above the law. A good rainy day read.
The author looks at a mixed bag of 13 individuals who thought they could beat the system (and in some cases almost did)....everyone from Jimmy Swaggart to Anthony Blunt. This is a book that can be read at leisure and at times may make you chuckle at the blind stupidity of those who think they are above the law. A good rainy day read.
September 2, 2013
History's Greatest Scandals: Shocking Stories of Powerful People by Ed Wright is a Thunder Bay publication and was releases in June 2013.
A copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher/author and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is a fairly short non-fiction book listing an array of well known and perhaps a few lesser known scandals involving politicians and other world leaders and a few Hollywood scandals.
There were only a handful that I was not overly familiar with. The most interesting one for me was The Star Spangled Killer. The older ones that regarded people from other countries were also not as well known, to me at least.
The author included former President Clinton's sexual escapades, the Watergate Scandal, the PTL Jim Bakker scandal, and the Roman Polanski scandal.
Everyone loves a scandal. Come on admit it, you do. For me personally, I grew up hearing about Watergate and half of the other scandals that the media beat to death. So, about half of the featured stories were just too familiar to me. I knew these stories backwards and forwards. But, there were a few I had forgotten about, like Imelda Marcos and her collection of shoes.
Other stories I was less knowledgeable about. It still amazes me the lengths people will go to for power, money, to avoid jail or hide their sexuality.
This is an interesting book and will be fun to remind yourself of when the media couldn't get enough of Jessica Hahn and how she took advantage of her fifteen minutes, or to shake your head at the depravity of people that lived way back in the 16 and 1800's. I hesitate to refer to this book as entertainment, but it was, and of course it is all true and a piece of history, like it or not.
I give this one a C+
A copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher/author and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is a fairly short non-fiction book listing an array of well known and perhaps a few lesser known scandals involving politicians and other world leaders and a few Hollywood scandals.
There were only a handful that I was not overly familiar with. The most interesting one for me was The Star Spangled Killer. The older ones that regarded people from other countries were also not as well known, to me at least.
The author included former President Clinton's sexual escapades, the Watergate Scandal, the PTL Jim Bakker scandal, and the Roman Polanski scandal.
Everyone loves a scandal. Come on admit it, you do. For me personally, I grew up hearing about Watergate and half of the other scandals that the media beat to death. So, about half of the featured stories were just too familiar to me. I knew these stories backwards and forwards. But, there were a few I had forgotten about, like Imelda Marcos and her collection of shoes.
Other stories I was less knowledgeable about. It still amazes me the lengths people will go to for power, money, to avoid jail or hide their sexuality.
This is an interesting book and will be fun to remind yourself of when the media couldn't get enough of Jessica Hahn and how she took advantage of her fifteen minutes, or to shake your head at the depravity of people that lived way back in the 16 and 1800's. I hesitate to refer to this book as entertainment, but it was, and of course it is all true and a piece of history, like it or not.
I give this one a C+
October 9, 2013
I admit to being one of those folks for whom the "horrible" series (horrible history, horrible science) was a source of entertainment. Every time someone tries to dress up learning in a fun way, I have a need to read it (like eating a piece of medicine coated in candy). Then again, I sometimes read textbooks for fun, so....
History's Greatest Scandals is really a book full of very short biographies of people who did things considered scandalous in their time. Yes, Watergate and Bill Clinton are mentioned. So is Queen Catherine of Russia (check name). As a whole, the book is divided into six different sections - Political misconduct (most number of scandals), Murder and Mystery, False Prophets, On the Lam, Double Lives, Private Perversions. Each section has at least three scandals/biographies. Each biography is broken into three parts - why the scandal happened (aka the early years), the scandal, and the aftermath (did he/she escape unscathed?). And if you're really interested, there's a long long list of biographies that you can use as a reference for further reading.
Personally, I would have liked the book to be a lot lot longer. There's something fascinating about reading about how all these other people have screwed up, I mean done wrong. In fact, in the False Prophets section, it seems that there is a connection between two of the fake preachers - and that is something that I would have liked to read more about.
Unfortunately, there is a rather strong western emphasis. I counted, and there is exactly one Asian reference - Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos. And well, this book isn't called 'Western History's Greatest Scandals'. I mean, I'm sure we have a lot more - in the past few months, Singapore has Pastor Kong, who used the Church's money to promote his wife's singing career, China has Bo Xilai (and many others, but this is the most recent one), Malaysia has Anwar, and well, just the South East Asian region alone has enough for a book.
Hey, maybe someone should write a sequel to this - History's Greatest Scandals (Asian version)
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book for a free and honest review from the publisher via NetGalley.
This review was first posted to Inside the mind of a Bibliophile
History's Greatest Scandals is really a book full of very short biographies of people who did things considered scandalous in their time. Yes, Watergate and Bill Clinton are mentioned. So is Queen Catherine of Russia (check name). As a whole, the book is divided into six different sections - Political misconduct (most number of scandals), Murder and Mystery, False Prophets, On the Lam, Double Lives, Private Perversions. Each section has at least three scandals/biographies. Each biography is broken into three parts - why the scandal happened (aka the early years), the scandal, and the aftermath (did he/she escape unscathed?). And if you're really interested, there's a long long list of biographies that you can use as a reference for further reading.
Personally, I would have liked the book to be a lot lot longer. There's something fascinating about reading about how all these other people have screwed up, I mean done wrong. In fact, in the False Prophets section, it seems that there is a connection between two of the fake preachers - and that is something that I would have liked to read more about.
Unfortunately, there is a rather strong western emphasis. I counted, and there is exactly one Asian reference - Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos. And well, this book isn't called 'Western History's Greatest Scandals'. I mean, I'm sure we have a lot more - in the past few months, Singapore has Pastor Kong, who used the Church's money to promote his wife's singing career, China has Bo Xilai (and many others, but this is the most recent one), Malaysia has Anwar, and well, just the South East Asian region alone has enough for a book.
Hey, maybe someone should write a sequel to this - History's Greatest Scandals (Asian version)
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book for a free and honest review from the publisher via NetGalley.
This review was first posted to Inside the mind of a Bibliophile
July 9, 2013
If you read book reviews you read books. If you read books at sometime you are certain to have hit an analogy or reference that you didn’t have a clue about, but kept reading. Balfour has been my personal boondoggle for a while. Finance and history books dealing with the 21th Century financial crisis often reference crooked big banks and Enronish debacles. When they do, invariably up pops J.S.Balfour. ”History’s Greatest Scandals” by Ed Wright includes the old reprobate’s biography and as such was too tempting to not pick up.
Wright covers some of the great political and social scandals of the late 19th and 20th century. Many of these Nixon, Edward VII, Jimmy Swaggart, Howard Hughes you may know just a touch about, but you’ll garner a more in-depth background on the subjects from Wrights short but through biographies.
The book hits its stride though when opening the dusty chest of the past with President Warren Harding, Roman Polanski, Fatty Arbuckle and yes Jabez Spencer Balfour. There are 28 biographies that range from political intrigue, to morals court cases to out and out frauds.
The book is easily read but well written and it should be noted that some content is truly for adults only. It is worth keeping on your shelf for reference or just to mediate water cooler debates.
As to Jabez Spencer Balfour, well all those economic references I kept falling over, now make sense. Turns out Balfour one of the greatest fraudsters of the 1890’s, one who rivalled the nefarious bank and stock dealers of the 21st Century. Balfour was a British MP and investment tycoon. He was noted for setting up new companies, which were then bought up by other of his companies, at inflated rates. The public could not get enough of the stock offerings as shares steadily rose. In 1892 when his Ponzi scheme of corporate buyouts failed numerous investors went belly up and losses ran to 7 million GBP ( or as a capital investment in 2011 US $ 1,500,000.00 )
Balfour escaped to Argentina. He would later be returned to the Great Britain and stand trial and be convicted.
As an information resource this book rates 4 of 5 stars.
See other reviews at www.ebooknews.ca
Wright covers some of the great political and social scandals of the late 19th and 20th century. Many of these Nixon, Edward VII, Jimmy Swaggart, Howard Hughes you may know just a touch about, but you’ll garner a more in-depth background on the subjects from Wrights short but through biographies.
The book hits its stride though when opening the dusty chest of the past with President Warren Harding, Roman Polanski, Fatty Arbuckle and yes Jabez Spencer Balfour. There are 28 biographies that range from political intrigue, to morals court cases to out and out frauds.
The book is easily read but well written and it should be noted that some content is truly for adults only. It is worth keeping on your shelf for reference or just to mediate water cooler debates.
As to Jabez Spencer Balfour, well all those economic references I kept falling over, now make sense. Turns out Balfour one of the greatest fraudsters of the 1890’s, one who rivalled the nefarious bank and stock dealers of the 21st Century. Balfour was a British MP and investment tycoon. He was noted for setting up new companies, which were then bought up by other of his companies, at inflated rates. The public could not get enough of the stock offerings as shares steadily rose. In 1892 when his Ponzi scheme of corporate buyouts failed numerous investors went belly up and losses ran to 7 million GBP ( or as a capital investment in 2011 US $ 1,500,000.00 )
Balfour escaped to Argentina. He would later be returned to the Great Britain and stand trial and be convicted.
As an information resource this book rates 4 of 5 stars.
See other reviews at www.ebooknews.ca
January 13, 2011
A bit sensationalistic (but of course), but the author takes care to be accurate where it counts: for example, he presents a convincing defense of Fatty Arbuckle, and (correctly) dispels the notion that Katherine the Great ever had sex with a horse.
History's Greatest Scandals: Shocking Stories of Powerful People benefits from its range (subjects from Carvagio to Richard Nixon, with a nice sampling of more obscure cases). Some passages seem overly expository and clumsily written, but others not so. The research was solid in the subject areas where I have some expertise, and the chapter about British spies is fascinating.
History's Greatest Scandals: Shocking Stories of Powerful People benefits from its range (subjects from Carvagio to Richard Nixon, with a nice sampling of more obscure cases). Some passages seem overly expository and clumsily written, but others not so. The research was solid in the subject areas where I have some expertise, and the chapter about British spies is fascinating.
December 27, 2018
Asa cum este si titlul "Cele mai mari scandaluri ale istoriei" ne prezinta poate cele mai marcante povestiri despre oameni istorici celebri. Președinți, regi, artiști, oameni de afaceri.
Scris sub o formă de atlas, il gasesc obligatoriu de lecturat macar cate un personaj arunci cand avem 15 minute libere.
Scris sub o formă de atlas, il gasesc obligatoriu de lecturat macar cate un personaj arunci cand avem 15 minute libere.
January 22, 2022
Mi-a plăcut. Bine structurată și destul de detaliată. Dacă verifici cu google informațiile sunt precise, nu sunt părtinitoare. Chiar interesante cazurile prezentate. Recomand tuturor celor care iubesc can can-ul sau pur și simplu vor să știe mai multe despre alții. :))
November 2, 2017
Great short overviews of history with references for further reading. Well worth the read
November 19, 2019
Loved it. Learnt so much from it. Couldn't put it down. Read it while breastfeeding my son 🙈
June 10, 2025
Another Barnes & Noble discount table book I picked up. A collection of short bios on figures in history who are (in)famous for scandal. It was rather forgettable.
July 5, 2013
A fun little book, covering (in reasonable detail) various "scandals" from history, ranging from the obvious (Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon) to the society types (Wallis Simpson, Fatty Arbuckle) and the perverted (Canaan Banana, Marquis de Sade). Sometimes the history lessons are quite basic, or may accept rumour and half-truth to fit the story, but no-one should be treating this as the sole text for research. It's a series of fascinating tales designed to show how folly and hubris have brought down some of history's most intriguing personalities, and - incidentally - a sobering reminder of how a few basic societal flaws like bigotry, repression, and inequality often lead to far worse sins.
on-hiatus
December 5, 2014Disclaimer: This ARC was given to me for free in exchange for an honest review from Netgalley.
Did not finish
September 2, 2013Nope. Backed right the fuck out at Polanski apologism in the introduction.
August 28, 2018
Melanie 2014
July 19, 2016
interesting read
July 29, 2014
Fascinating book although some proof reading would have been helpful
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews