American Historical and Literary Curiosities, Part 07

A cabinet of wonders from early America. This seventh installment in J. Jay Smith's celebrated series assembles strange tales, forgotten figures, and literary oddities that slipped through the cracks of conventional history. Here you'll find eccentric poets, dueling divines, hoaxers and hucksters, and the peculiar documents that reveal how early Americans entertained themselves when the frontier felt close and everything seemed possible. Smith combs archives and almanacs for the curious and the peculiar, presenting them with the glee of a collector showing off his finest oddments. The volume captures a uniquely American impulse: the love of the strange, the odd, the story that doesn't fit the grand narrative. For readers who crave history's margins, the weird and the utterly forgotten, this collection offers hours of delighted discovery.