Great Bastards of History: True and Riveting Accounts of the Most Famous Illegitimate Children Who Went on to Achieve Greatness

by Juré Fiorillo

For much of history and across most of the world, being born out of wedlock—a love child, a bastard—was a serious impediment to success. Illegitimate offspring were subject to neglect, abandonment, disinheritance, and social exclusion, and often found the usual routes to education, wealth, and status blocked. Surmounting these obstacles required tremendous fortitude and persistence.

Great Bastards of History brings together the captivating and stirring stories of fifteen remarkable and influential people who overcame the disadvantages of illegitimate birth to rise to positions of power. As well as providing insights into the personalities of many world-changing figures, it highlights the extraordinary courage, drive, and resolve that ordinary individuals can summon when faced with extreme adversity. Among its subjects are powerful political players including Alexander Hamilton, the abandoned son who became a founding father of the United States, and cultural figureheads such as Leonardo da Vinci, who, despite being denied entrance to trade guilds and universities, was proclaimed one of the greatest men of his day in courts throughout Europe. Equally affecting are some of the less well-known but no less fascinating figures, such as James Smithson, the disinherited son of an English duke, whose bequest to a country he never visited founded the largest museum in the world, the Smithsonian Institution.

Deftly blending biography and history, political intrigue, melodrama, and psychological analysis, this is a collection that will uplift, entertain, and inform, while yielding fresh perspectives on some of the most significant events from our past.

William the Conqueror : a lucky bastard (1028-1087) --
Leonardo da Vinci : bastard of the Renaissance (1452-1519) --
Francisco Pizarro : a brutal bastard (1475-1541) --
Elizabeth I : from bastard daughter to virgin queen (1533-1603) --
James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth : the bastard who would be king (1649-1685) --
Alexander Hamilton : an illegitimate son becomes a founding father of a new nation (1757-1804) --
James Smithson : the mysterious bastard becomes benefactor of America's most prestigious museum (1765-1829) --
Bernardo O'Higgins : how the viceroy's illegitimate son became a national hero (1778-1842) --
Alexandre Dumas fils : an illegitimate son inherits his father's talents--and vices (1824-1895) --
Henry Stanley : the illegitimate Welshman who found Livingstone (1841-1904) --
Jack London : rebellious mother, rebellious son (1876-1916) --
Lawrence of Arabia : legendary, but not legitimate (1888-1935) --
Billie Holiday : how a parentless and poverty-stricken child became a jazz legend (1915-1959) --
Eva Peron : a struggling actress remakes herself into a cultural icon (1919-1952) --
Fidel Castro : an illegitimate child sparks a revolution--and reinvents a nation (1926- )

Genres: Nonfiction, History

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Juré Fiorillo is a freelance writer specializing in history and criminology. She is the author of Great Bastards of History and the co-author of True Stories of Law & Order and True Stories of Law & Order: SVU. Juré has a master’s degree in criminal justice. She lives in New York.

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. Some of the 'bastards' were unknown to before reading the book which added to the fun!

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written stories.

[Jbondandrews · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well I had hoped there was going to be a collection of people of a greater diversity. There were too many grammatical errors. Can't say that the accounts were particularly rivetting.

[Rachel Pieters · Rating 4 out of 5]

I scooped this up at a used book store. It's not likely I would have found it otherwise, but I turned around and it was just staring me in the face, daring me to open it. I'm so glad I did.

An interesting collection of several of history's most famous illegitimate children, good and bad, and how their illegitimacy affected them, often their bastardy being the cause of why they rose to greatness to begin with. I had no idea some of these figures would be in here, such as Leonardo da Vinci and Eva Peron. As noted in the book, there isn't such a stigma now against bastard children, but believe me, being a bastard, especially of an absent parent, still gives you that same drive and want to prove yourself. That same sense of emptiness and rejection. From experience. I related very much to this book.

My only criticisms are that the point about them being a bastard does get repetitive after a time. I get it. It was a drilled into me as a reader a little too often. The other criticism is that there is no consistency with the way each new character is first presented. Sometimes it opens with their death. Sometimes with some anecdote about their childhood. I'm not sure why the author chose to do this, but it made for a slightly disjointed read. There is also an error on Billie Holiday's timeline.

Otherwise, it was an interesting and informative book filled with pictures, paintings, timelines and otherwise just plain interesting facts. Well done, Jure!

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides bite-size biographies of various famous figures from history, with all having a particular focus on the person's illegitimacy and how it affected their upbringing and adult life. While I had some prior knowledge of all the "bastards" presented in the book, (such as Da Vinci, Alexander Hamilton, Eva Peron, etc.), Fiorillo discusses their lives in an informal, understandable way that makes these individuals more "real" in my mind - i.e., these were people with real-life challenges (especially illegitimacy) that were overcome or that even inspired them to greatness. For example, if Da Vinci had been legitimate, he most likely would have followed in his father's footsteps as a notary and would not have been inspired to seek out an alternative, "creative" life outside the normal confines of society. Before reading this book, I would not have considered this particular aspect of Da Vinci's life.

It's an interesting, unique viewpoint from which to approach historical biography. I recommend this book for anyone with an interest in biography or history in general.

[Borlandol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting point of view. 15 mini bios of histoical figures, back to William the Conqueror of Normandy...A very good read.........