Fake History: From Mozart's Murder to Cleopatra's Asp

These basic falsehoods and outright lies, far from pertaining to the little and unimportant aspects of our history, taint the portrayal of many of the important figures and occasions we studied in school.  Most of us could recite a few facts about Joan of Arc, Captain Cook, Marco Polo, and Cleopatra.  A closer look at these fundamental aspects of our social and political history, however, demonstrates that frequently things were not as they seemed and that the goals of those in charge of documenting these events greatly influenced what was revealed and what was kept secret, as this fascinating book demonstrates.