Scandal

This is a very good book, rehashing scandals of all sorts throughout history (leaning toward modern times). Lots of details not found easily elsewhere. I love any true book where the high and mighty get a comeupance when it's deserved, and this book gives the reader a variety of scandalous stories to choose from. But don't skip a page! Even if you think you know everything about one of the scandal mongers listed, the author's style of writing is always a treat.

This is a lexicon of sleaze, from Fatty Arbuckle to suburban brothel-owners, British double agents, illegitimate children, card-cheating, murderers of nannys, inconstant Queens and playboy princes. A wonderfully voyeuristic work; a reference book for the gossip or muckraker.

Colin Wilson's Encyclopaedia of Scandal is a good basic introduction to the scandals and scams of old. He and Donald Seaman describe some of the most notorious scams of the past and explain how they affected public thinking (and often public policy).I recommend this book to all readers, but especially to those who look at the past with rose-coloured glasses.