Bunk traces the history of the hoax as a peculiarly American phenomenon, examining what motivates hucksters and makes the rest of us so gullible. Disturbingly, Young finds that fakery is woven from stereotype and suspicion, race being the most insidious American hoax of all. He chronicles how Barnum came to fame by displaying figures like Joice Heth, a black woman whom he pretended was the 161-year-old nursemaid to George Washington, and What Is It?, an African American man Barnum...

The Shortest History of Football takes readers on an epic journey from the game's humble origins to its place today at the pinnacle of global popular culture.From the muddy trenches of Flanders to the stadium-palaces of Saudi Arabia, from the ancient Mayans to Leo Messi, from the first recorded women's football match to today's Lionesses, this is a concise yet comprehensive history of the world's best-loved and most influential sport.For history buffs and football fa...

Longlisted for the National Book Award for Nonfiction“There Kevin Young goes again, giving us books we greatly need, cleverly disguised as books we merely want. Unexpectedly essential.”—Marlon JamesAward-winning poet and critic Kevin Young tours us through a rogue’s gallery of hoaxers, plagiarists, forgers, and fakers—from the humbug of P. T. Barnum and Edgar Allan Poe to the unrepentant bunk of JT LeRoy and Donald J. Trump. Bunk t...

Played by both migrants and native-born Americans, soccer created communities across the United States. Brian D. Bunk ranges from Pawtucket to Honolulu as he illuminates the deep and diverse origins of the American sport.Soccer took root as immigration, urbanization, and industrialization triggered immense changes across society. Matches built local pride as teams battled rival neighborhoods and towns. Teammates and supporters shared meals, raised money for fallen players, and atte...

A whirlwind history of soccer’s improbable rise—from ancient traditions to worldwide cultural focusHow did a simple kicking game conquer the world? In this concise yet comprehensive history, sports historian Brian D. Bunk traces soccer’s unlikely, meteoric rise, showing how a pastime humbly rooted in English schoolyard contests grew to become the planet’s most popular sport. Today, soccer is a cultural and economic juggernaut: The World Cup, the sport’s crown jewel...

Rediscovering soccer's long history in the U.S.Across North America, native peoples and colonists alike played a variety of kicking games long before soccer's emergence in the late 1800s. Brian D. Bunk examines the development and social impact of these sports through the rise of professional soccer after World War I. As he shows, the various games called football gave women an outlet as athletes and encouraged men to form social bonds based on educational experien...

The question of what caused the Spanish Civil War (1936–39) is the central focus of modern Spanish historiography. In Ghosts of Passion, Brian D. Bunk argues that propaganda related to the revolution of October 1934 triggered the broader conflict by accentuating existing social tensions surrounding religion and gender. Through careful analysis of the images produced in books, newspapers, posters, rallies, and meetings, Bunk contends that Spain’s civil war was not inevitable. Comme...

"This Man Called Bunk" follows a man who went to work in Baltimore City in 1926 and never returned, leaving his wife and four young children with no explanation. His wife raised the children with the help of her brother and sister and never remarried. Years later, his granddaughter Jenny Lynn became curious about what caused her grandfather to leave. There were many theories in the family about his reason for leaving. Some dismissed his disappearance as being inconsiderate and thoughtless,...

Several contributions in our first book about schizo affective disorders (Marneros and Tsuang, Schizoaffective Psychoses, Springer-Verlag, 1986) supported the assumption that schizoaffective disorders differ in relevant ways from schizophrenic disorders. The classification of schizo affective disorders as a subgroup of schizophrenia has also been criticized, and empirical research in clinical, genetic, therapeutic, and prognostic areas supports the idea that there are some strong similari ...

Art of Bunking is a joyful, humorous memoir of college life in the 1970s—when friendships were loud, classes were optional, and bunking was a sacred art form.A.K. Girisam takes readers back to the engineering hostel corridors where laughter echoed louder than lectures, last-minute exams created heroic panic, and movie theatres were the real classrooms of life.With warmth and wit, the author brings alive unforgettable characters—friends who argued, studied, ...

"This crash course in critical thinking . . . includes handy rules for evaluating the confused public discourse on climate change, evolution, and even UFOs." — DiscoverRecent polls suggest that fewer than forty percent of Americans believe in Darwin's theory of evolution, despite it being one of science's best-established findings. Parents still refuse to vaccinate their children for fear it causes autism, though this link has been consistently disproved. A...

From the 1880s to the Second World War, Campbell Road, Finsbury Park (known as Campbell Bunk), had a notorious reputation for violence, for breeding thieves and prostitutes, and for an enthusiastic disregard for law and order. It was the object of reform by church, magistrates, local authorities, and social scientists, who left many traces of their attempts to improve what became known as 'the worst street in North London'.Jerry White offers insight into the realities of life in a ...