The Great Pretenders: The True Stories Behind Famous Historical Mysteries - Jan Bondeson

This is a book about people throughout history who've pretended to be other people (almost always wealthy other people). It's written by Jan Bondeson, a Belgian doctor, who's written quite a few books on unusual historical trivia, and who is rarely less than entertaining. (I highly recommend his book The London Monster, about some odd sexual assaults that took place in late eighteenth century London and the astounding mass hysteria that accompanied them.) He's straying away from his normal territory here (he tends to write about people with unusual medical conditions and how they were interpreted by their less-knowledgeable peers), but in seven interesting chapters he ...  Read the complete review