How They Croaked ; The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous by Georgia Bragg- Book Set #2

Bragg, G. (2011).  How they croaked; the awful ends of the awfully famous.  New York, NY.  Bloomsbury Publishing.

In this trivia type of informational book the author describes the deaths of 19 famous individuals through out history.  True, most of us know or will learn about these individual's important and lasting contributions for their life or life's work, but how many of us really know about their death?  An interesting but sometimes surprisingly gruesome concept is presented through the description of each.  Included in this book are King Tut, Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Christopher Columbus, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Pocahontas, Galileo Galilei, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Marie Antoinette, George Washington, Napoleon Bonaparte, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, James A. Garfield, Charles Darwin, Marie Curie, and Albert Einstein.    Each individual has a section dedicated to the description of their death.  A detailed but cartoon like drawing of each is shown at the beginning along with a gravestone marking their role or famous title,  the place and year that they were born and died, and the age at their death.  At the end of each section there is a double page spread with interesting facts either about something noted in their life or death.  Mostly trivial facts but never boring.  The author has also managed to play a sort of “7 degrees of separation” in the back of the book as a flow chart illustrates the connection of the lives of these historical figures. A complete source page is included at the end of the book along with references to further reading and surfing, and a complete index to help readers pick out individuals they may want to study.  This helps to justify the book’s authenticity and accuracy of historical facts. 

For a creepy preview of this book go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_g1DKSH6T8