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Abraham Lincoln Never Said, You Cannot Fool All The People All The Time. Thomas Jefferson Never Said, That Government Is Best Which Governs Least. And Horace Greeley Never Said, Go West, Young Man. In They Never Said It, Paul Boller, Jr., And John George Examine Hundreds Of Misquotations, Incorrect Attributions, And Blatant Fabrications, Outlining The Origins Of The Quotes And Revealing Why They Should Be Consigned To The Historical Trashcan. Many Of The Misquotes Are Quite Harmless. Some Are Inadvertent Misquotes That Have Become Popular (shakespeare Actually Said, The Best Part Of Valor Is Discretion), Others, The Inventions Of Reporters Embellishing A Story (franklin Roosevelt Never Opened A Speech To A Dar Group With The Salutation, My Fellow Immigrants). But Some Of The Quotes, Such As Charles Darwin's Supposed Deathbed Recantation Of Evolution, Are Blatantly Dishonest And Falsify The Historical Record. And Others Are Chillingly Vicious, Filled With Virulent Racial And Religious Prejudices That Completely Distort The Views Of The Person Supposedly Quoted And Spread Distrust And Hatred Among The Gullible. These Include The Forged Remarks Attributed To Benjamin Franklin That Jews Should Be Excluded From America, And The Fabricated Condemnation Of Catholics Attributed To Lincoln. An Entertaining And Yet Thought-provoking Book, They Never Said It Sorts Out A Great Deal Of History And Sets It Right, Going Beyond A Mere Catalog Of Popular Misconceptions To Reveal How Conservatives And Liberals, Atheists And Evangelists, All Have At Times Twisted And Even Invented The Words Of Eminent Figures To Promote Their Own Ends. It Is The Ultimate Debunking Reference, A Perfect Complement To Handbooks Of Quotations.
This book investigates the prevalence and origins of historical misquotations, examining why false attributions persist in public discourse. The authors, Paul F. Boller Jr. and John George, utilize their academic backgrounds in history and political science to dissect hundreds of famous quotes. They argue that while some misquotes are harmless errors, others are deliberate fabrications designed to manipulate public opinion or promote specific ideological agendas. By tracing the actual sources of these statements, the authors provide a rigorous framework for verifying historical accuracy.
What You Will Find
Experts and readers alike recognize this work as a standard reference for debunking common historical myths. The text is noted for its accessible yet scholarly approach to correcting the historical record.
Page Count:
192
Publication Date:
1989-01-01
Publisher:
Oxford University Press, Usa
ISBN-10:
0198022220
ISBN-13:
9780198022220
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