Product Description

Most biographical dictionaries merely provide a bald and arid listing of the subject's date of birth, life history and major achievements, offering scant idea of what he or she was really like as a human being. Private Lives, in total contrast, scores strongly on the 'Hello!' magazine scale of intimate revelation, painting full, warts-and-all, what-do-they-keep-in-their-underwear-drawer pictures of over 200 famous and infamous characters from history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #674257 in Books
• Published on: 2001-10-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 416 pages

About the Author
Mark Bryant's books include Dictionary of British Cartoonists & Caricaturists 1730-1980, World War II in Cartoons, God in Cartoons and Dictionary of 20th Century British Cartoonists & Caricaturists. He was Vice-President of the British Cartoonists' Association 1999-2000.

Customer Reviews

Hard facts plus intriguing additions
This book begins with Alexander the Great and finishes with Emile Zola. The core facts of each subject's life are covered with admirable clarity and brevity: habits,hobbies,religion, politics,health, temperament, work, death and much else. Therefore, the book is useful as a simple and accessible ready reference. Here you can check on people you think you ought to know about but have little more than a vague awareness. In my case these included, for example, Laurence Sterne, Thomas De Quincey, Arthur Rimbaud and Tiberius.

However, the fascination for me was to read little known facts about well famous historical characters. Ivan the Terrible nailed a messenger's foot to the floor, Casanova used a pig's bladder as a condom (showing in my view a responsibilty which did him credit?), Keats wrote on scraps of paper which a friend retrieved and helped him assemble, Hitler was a hypochondriac who at one time took 28 types of medication, including injections from bulls' testicles.

This is the perfect browser's book. You can open it anywhere and find something to interest and intrigue.