- In 1921, a bankrupt H.L. Hunt won his first oil well in a game of five-card stud.

- Women were in such short supply in Louisiana in 1721 that the government of France shipped twenty-five prostitutes to the colony.

- U.S. Grant was arrested, while President, for speeding in his horse carriage.

- Lord Cornbury, a governor of New York from 1702 to 1708, was a transvestite.

- J. Edgar Hoover refused to allow people to walk on his shadow.

These and other remarkable facts are recorded -- and documented -- in this fascinating treasure trove of little-known facts about American history. Based on exhaustive research, this irreverent collection will startle, amuse, entertain, and inform -- and every word is true.