Certitude: A Profusely Illustrated Guide to Blockheads and Bullheads, Past and PresentSometimes all we have is the courage of our convictions. But not all convictions are created equal. In fact, some are downright delusional. And once a foolish notion sinks its teeth into the famous or the powerful, look out-the impact can have profound consequences for the rest of us. So it's nothing short of gratifying when our most bullheaded and self-righteous leading lights insist on getting their way only to be proven egregiously embarrassingly wrong. From politicians to pontiffs, movie stars to moguls, and artists to inventors, "Certitude" presents short biographical sketches of notoriously stubborn individuals who were certain they were right-with laughable, disturbing, and often disastrous results. Earning a place among the greatest historical and contemporary bullheads are: -Girolamo Savonarola, the Dominican friar who failed to place his own vanities on the bonfire. -Carry A. Nation, the saloon smasher who didn't have a temperate bone in her teetotaling body. -Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes series, who lacked the deductive reasoning he bestowed on his own creation. -Joseph Stalin, the hard-line Soviet leader who had a soft spot after all. -Madonna, the queen of pop, who isn't just a material girl: She's embraced Kabbalah and the doctrine of reincarnation-in other words, she'll be back! Informative, irreverent, and brilliantly illustrated by the caricaturist Edward Sorel, "Certitude" is a book for our time. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Adam Begley Aimee Semple McPherson American André Maginot Angleton army Arthur Conan Doyle asked Bacon became believe birth Blondlot blue-eyed Bolshevik British Bryan Bullheads Bunker Bush called certainty Certitude Cheney Christopher Hitchens Comstock confidence convictions convinced Cruise Crusade Custer czarina death decades decided declared devil doubt Dreyfus Eddy Edgar Degas Edward Sorel Elders of Zion Elijah Muhammad England Europe fairies faith Ford George George Armstrong Custer German Goldwyn Hagee Halévys Herbert Heston Hollywood Holtzendorff Hoover Hunt insisted Jack Jack Abbott James Jeannette Rankin Jerusalem Jewish Jews John Kaiser Kipling land later Lindbergh live Madonna Maginot Martin Luther McPherson mind month movie N-ray Nancy Nation never once Operation Barbarossa paranoid Philby political Pope president Rand Rasputin Rostow Rumsfeld Sam Goldwyn Savonarola scary Scientology Soviet Stalin stars Symmes tion troops Vietnam Waverly William Butler Yeats words wrote York