Gods, Mongrels, and Demons: 101 Brief But Essential Lives

by Angus Calder

Endlessly entertaining and meticulously compiled, Gods, Mongrels, and Demons is a delightful alternative Who's Who.

Inspired by the author's belief that "oddballs, headbangers, saints, nutters, philosophers, freaks and such like deserve to be drawn away from the periphery to the center" of our consciousness, Gods, Mongrels, and Demons uses the famous, the infamous, and the apparently marginal to tell us more about ourselves and our cultures than we'd find in the usual history book fare.

In what other single volume could you find such eminent figures as the Japanese poet Basho; Ruth Handler, inventor of the Barbie doll; and the modernist artist Kurt Schwitters? Where else would Babe Ruth, Billie Holiday and Ludwig Wittgenstein rub shoulders with the likes of Anansi, Ganesh, the Queen of Sheba, the King of the Gypsies, Billy the Kid, and a Top Secret carrier pigeon named Winkie? Not to mention Henri Cochet - the sublime playboy tennis star who found himself two sets and fifteen-love down in the third set of the Wimbledon men's semifinal in 1927 and went on to win the championship.

Not merely informative but also beautifully produced, featuring original lettering by Jeff Fisher, Gods, Mongrels, and Demons is the perfect way to chase off the winter blues.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

416 pages, Hardcover

First published November 15, 2004

About the author

Angus Lindsay Ritchie Calder was a Scottish academic, writer, historian, educator and literary editor with a background in English literature, politics and cultural studies.

He was a man of the Left, and in his influential book on the home front in the Second World War, The People's War (1969), he complained that the postwar reforms of the Labour government, such as universal health care and nationalization of some industries, were an inadequate reward for wartime sacrifices, and a cynical betrayal of the people's hope for a more just postwar society.

Other books include Revolutionary Empire (1981), The Myth of the Blitz (1991) and Revolving Culture: Notes from the Scottish Republic (1994).

Reviews

[Rachel Glass · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some bizarre and unusual lives described here, some of which I'd heard of but most I hadn't. Of the more famous names, Calder focusses on the lesser-known facts about the person. He doesn't try to cover every detail, so the entries do not read as endless lists of dates and achievements. However there were a few entries where the name mentioned seemed to be an excuse for the author to bring up a historical event he had a particular interest in, and in some occasions the name given in the heading was only mentioned once or twice. Some of the time frames were also quite confusing, with Calderon preferring to order his entries by topical events in some peoples' lives, rather than chronology.

[Elfbiter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recommend readers check other sources about some of these people - assuming some of them actually existed...