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Hidden History, Strange Stories, and Hard-to-Believe HeadlinesWhat if there was a flip side to the history channel? What would you do with all the historical facts and tales left out of history textbooks? From the host of the popular Useless Information podcast, Steve Silverman, comes a collection of fun history facts, strange news, and lost stories.
True Stories and random trivia that will entertain or liven up any conversation. In The Flip Side of History: Fascinating True Stories that Time Has Long Forgotten, read about common folk and not-so-common knowledge. In this collection of thirty plus historical events, Steve Silverman provides fascinating stories and easy to read facts. Covering a wide variety of topics, these stories highlight the quirks, complexities, and curiousness of man.
Stranger than Stranger Things. The Flip Side of History gives you tales full of strange news, trivia, and facts. Some made newspaper headlines, others were lost in history:
A prominent lawyer leaves his entire estate to a town for the establishment of a library that forbids women--setting off riots, arrests, and the near hanging of a judge.
The amazing story of the only person rescued from slavery by the Underground Railroad four times.
That time a man in the 1950s stole hundreds of women's shoes in Coronado and San Diego, California. The shoes, most of them the left shoe, were found dispersed randomly all over town.
If you're a fan of the Florida Man Challenge and books like The Book of Unusual Knowledge, Answers to Questions You've Never Asked, Bad Days in History, Uncle John's Bathroom Reader, and The Greatest Stories Never Told; then The Flip Side of History is your next read!
True Stories and random trivia that will entertain or liven up any conversation. In The Flip Side of History: Fascinating True Stories that Time Has Long Forgotten, read about common folk and not-so-common knowledge. In this collection of thirty plus historical events, Steve Silverman provides fascinating stories and easy to read facts. Covering a wide variety of topics, these stories highlight the quirks, complexities, and curiousness of man.
Stranger than Stranger Things. The Flip Side of History gives you tales full of strange news, trivia, and facts. Some made newspaper headlines, others were lost in history:
A prominent lawyer leaves his entire estate to a town for the establishment of a library that forbids women--setting off riots, arrests, and the near hanging of a judge.
The amazing story of the only person rescued from slavery by the Underground Railroad four times.
That time a man in the 1950s stole hundreds of women's shoes in Coronado and San Diego, California. The shoes, most of them the left shoe, were found dispersed randomly all over town.
If you're a fan of the Florida Man Challenge and books like The Book of Unusual Knowledge, Answers to Questions You've Never Asked, Bad Days in History, Uncle John's Bathroom Reader, and The Greatest Stories Never Told; then The Flip Side of History is your next read!
200 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2024
61 people are currently reading
100 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 6, 2021
The Flip Side of History
Strange News, Hard-to-Believe Headlines and Other Curious Stories from History
Authored by Steve Silverman
297 pages
This was quite a curious and interesting book to read. The biggest hook for me was that it was ALL true, no fiction, no embellishments. Each account described is a real event already documented in history in some way be it by newspaper, biography or autobiography, editorial, news broadcast, personal correspondence, something. Moreover, what is continually impressive is the shear mass of information accumulated for this book. It is clear that this wasn’t just a “sit down and churn a book out” kind of project. The amount of information mixed with all the different types of events and incidents shows to me that this was a writing project that took a lot of time, effort, organization and passion. I would guess that this author does in fact have a passion for history in general.
The events detailed in this book are mostly from the late 1800s to the late 1900s. Again, it is things like that that make me feel this was a long-term project. The author had to find, research, compile the data, organize it and then put it into the book you’re going to read in an entertaining, concise and coherent manner. These events cover all kinds of topics. There are stories involving things from true crime, cons and con-artists, hoaxes, heroes and survivors to the most noticeably newsworthy events and, of course, just the absolutely oddest happenings that really drive parts of the human mind to maximum curiosity.
This book is an easy read. It’s very well written, logically organized allowing the information to truly just flow from page to page and from the page to the mind of the reader. Fascinating circumstances with specific and precise details easily create the array of images I’m sure the author is projecting into the mind of the reader. The bulk of these accounts are not common or what one might call common knowledge, giving the whole reading experience a completely added allure and enthralling feel.
I love learning. I am constantly learning things, looking things up, asking questions and finding the answers. I would love to be able to afford to be a true professional student and honestly just take every college and course in under-graduate and post-graduate education that ever interested me. I would probably end up with seven or eight degrees if I could. Because I love to learn, I was immediately taken with this book. Any history buff, lover of new information, knowledge seekers and the like will absolutely love this book. I can even say that there was so much intriguing information in this one book that I know I will have no issue reading it a second time. I enjoyed it that much. Plus, I want to make sure I got all the information the author was offering. Take advantage of the knowledge others can give you. And this book is an excellent and entertaining way to start.
RATINGS
5/5 Stars
Strange News, Hard-to-Believe Headlines and Other Curious Stories from History
Authored by Steve Silverman
297 pages
This was quite a curious and interesting book to read. The biggest hook for me was that it was ALL true, no fiction, no embellishments. Each account described is a real event already documented in history in some way be it by newspaper, biography or autobiography, editorial, news broadcast, personal correspondence, something. Moreover, what is continually impressive is the shear mass of information accumulated for this book. It is clear that this wasn’t just a “sit down and churn a book out” kind of project. The amount of information mixed with all the different types of events and incidents shows to me that this was a writing project that took a lot of time, effort, organization and passion. I would guess that this author does in fact have a passion for history in general.
The events detailed in this book are mostly from the late 1800s to the late 1900s. Again, it is things like that that make me feel this was a long-term project. The author had to find, research, compile the data, organize it and then put it into the book you’re going to read in an entertaining, concise and coherent manner. These events cover all kinds of topics. There are stories involving things from true crime, cons and con-artists, hoaxes, heroes and survivors to the most noticeably newsworthy events and, of course, just the absolutely oddest happenings that really drive parts of the human mind to maximum curiosity.
This book is an easy read. It’s very well written, logically organized allowing the information to truly just flow from page to page and from the page to the mind of the reader. Fascinating circumstances with specific and precise details easily create the array of images I’m sure the author is projecting into the mind of the reader. The bulk of these accounts are not common or what one might call common knowledge, giving the whole reading experience a completely added allure and enthralling feel.
I love learning. I am constantly learning things, looking things up, asking questions and finding the answers. I would love to be able to afford to be a true professional student and honestly just take every college and course in under-graduate and post-graduate education that ever interested me. I would probably end up with seven or eight degrees if I could. Because I love to learn, I was immediately taken with this book. Any history buff, lover of new information, knowledge seekers and the like will absolutely love this book. I can even say that there was so much intriguing information in this one book that I know I will have no issue reading it a second time. I enjoyed it that much. Plus, I want to make sure I got all the information the author was offering. Take advantage of the knowledge others can give you. And this book is an excellent and entertaining way to start.
RATINGS
5/5 Stars
May 18, 2025
الاخبار المذكورة مملة وغير مثيرة بل تكاد تكون عادية
December 27, 2021
Sometimes you just read/buy a book to support the writer, that’s the case for me here. I have enjoyed the author’s podcast (Useless Information) for many years though lately I have been skipping the episodes. The tone has changed.
This book is more like the “good old” episodes, offering interesting glimpses into otherwise often trivial circumstances.
This book is more like the “good old” episodes, offering interesting glimpses into otherwise often trivial circumstances.
December 23, 2023
Some fascinating stories and I did enjoy the fact some were a minute and others 40 minutes. America continues to be a place to observe from afar with wonder. I’ll probably be tuning into his podcast now for more of these gems. Very well told and researched.
July 14, 2021
Really interesting info about lesser known history and quirks of fate.
October 9, 2022
An interesting compilation of unique stories. There's not much significant substance here, but it's interesting and gives some glimpses of history you don't normally see.
October 11, 2023
Strange stories in history. Many taken from the author’s podcast. I might enjoy that.
May 22, 2024
I mean... some dull stories, but not sure all would fit the category of "the flip side of history."
April 13, 2025
أكثر كتاب ممل قرأته في حياتي، حتى أني لا أفهم لماذا تمت ترجمته!!
July 10, 2025
A fun, fast-paced read packed with the kind of oddball stories. It shines a light on the forgotten, the bizarre, and the just plain weird moments from the past.
February 1, 2023
A great collection of original tales. Although there isn't much substantive information presented here, it is entertaining and offers some unusual peeks into history. One for the nerds.
December 26, 2024
Interesting & funny. Highly recommend.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews