Our Blog

In the tradition of Quirk’s bestselling Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents, here are outrageous and uncensored profiles of the world’s greatest writers, complete with hundreds of little-known, politically incorrect, and downright bizarre facts. Consider:

–Edgar Allan Poe was kicked out of West Point Military Academy.
–Louisa May Alcott was addicted to opium.
–W. B. Yeats paid surgeons to transplant monkey glands into his scrotum.
–J. R. R. Tolkien slept in his bathroom.
–Kurt Vonnegut managed a Saab dealership before hitting the big time.

With chapters on everyone from William Shakespeare to Thomas Pynchon, Secret Lives of Great Authors tackles all the tough questions your teachers were afraid to answer: What’s the deal with Lewis Carroll and little girls? Is it true that J. D. Salinger drank his own urine? Why was Ayn Rand such a big fan of Charlie’s Angels? The classics were never this much fun in school!

ROBERT SCHNAKENBERG is a writer living in Brooklyn, New York.

Secret Lives of Great Authors revealed the dirty secrets of Hemingway, Kafka, and Tolstoy. Secret Lives of Great Artists explored the bizarre behavior of Picasso, Matisse, and Monet. Now you can discover the dirty laundry of Beethoven, Wagner, Puccini, and others in Secret Lives of Great Composers-an uncensored biography of the world’s greatest musical geniuses. You’ll learn that

    * Hector Berlioz hatched a plan to kill his ex-fiancee, her lover, and her mother
    * Joseph Haydn had his head stolen by amateur phrenologists days after being buried
    * Richard Wagner dressed in pink women’s lingerie
    * Arnold Schoenberg suffered from a debilitating case of triskaidekaphobia-a fear of the number 13
    * And much more!

With outrageous stories ranging from the ridiculous (Mozart loved fart jokes) to the even more ridiculous (the absentminded Mahler frequently stirred his tea with cigarettes), Secret Lives of Great Composers is a music lesson you’ll never forget.

ELIZABETH LUNDAY is a journalist specializing in music, architecture, and art. She writes the “Masterpieces” column for mental_floss magazine and lives in Forth Worth, Texas.

On the heels of Secret Lives of Great Authors, Great Artists, and Great Composers comes Secret Lives of Great Filmmakers-an uncensored look at screen legends ranging from D. W. Griffi th and Frank Capra to Martin Scorsese and the Coen Brothers. Readers will discover that:

    * Charlie Chaplin’s corpse was stolen and held for a 400,000£ ransom.

    * Akira Kurosawa dreamed of making the ultimate Godzilla film.

    * Alfred Hitchcock “lost” his belly button during abdominal surgery-and often shocked his leading ladies by flashing his curiously smooth tummy.

    * David Lynch won’t allow cooking in his home; the odor of heated food disturbs him.

With outrageous anecdotes ranging from the weird to the bizarre, Secret Lives of Great Filmmakers is a hilarious behind-the-scenes look at the making of movies.

ROBERT SCHNAKENBERG is the author of Secret Lives of Great Authors (Quirk, 2008) and Secret Lives of the Supreme Court (Quirk, 2009). He lives in Brooklyn.

The author of Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents and Secret Lives of the First Ladies is back with another bizarre look at history’s most celebrated personalities. With Secret Lives of the Civil War, Cormac O’Brien unearths a host of strange, little-known facts about Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, and Harriet Tubman. He also introduces lesser-known individuals who changed the fate of our country-people like:

–Sarah Edmonds, who disguised herself as a man so she could fight in the Battle of Bull Run (the Civil War had a surprising number of women soldiers)
–William Clarke Quantrill, a sociopath who fought in both armies, mostly for the pleasure of shedding blood
–And, of course, Officer Ambrose Burnside, whose unique “sideburns” would later influence generations of Elvis Presley fans

Complete with 30 dazzling portraits and illustrated maps, Secret Lives of the Civil War is a new look at one of the most fascinating chapters in American history.

CORMAC O’BRIEN is the author of Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents (Quirk, 2004) and Secret Lives of the First Ladies (Quirk, 2005). He lives in Bloomfield, New Jersey.

This newly updated collection of biographies showcases all the secrets, scandals, and trivia from America’s first ladies.
 
Whether she’s a leading lady, loyal spouse, or lightning rod for scandal, the First Lady of the United States has always been in the spotlight—and in 2017 that was truer than ever. This revised and expanded edition from Quirk’s best-selling Secret Lives series features outrageous and uncensored profiles of the women of the White House, from Martha Washington to Melania Trump, it comes complete with hundreds of little-known, politically incorrect, and downright wacko facts. Did you know that . . .
 
• Dolley Madison loved to chew tobacco
• Mary Todd Lincoln conducted séances on a regular basis
• Eleanor Roosevelt and Ellen Wilson both carried guns
• Jacqueline Kennedy spent $121,000 on her wardrobe in a single year
• Betty Ford liked to chat on CB radios—her handle was “First Mama”
And much, much more.

It’s the perfect time for Secret Lives of the Supreme Court-an irreverent look at the lives, personalities, and history of this exclusive club, with profiles of everyone from John Jay and William Howard Taft to Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and John Roberts. Readers will learn about their most important cases and their most bizarre personality quirks: Thurgood Marshall was a soap opera junkie, Benjamin Cordozo died a virgin, Hugo Black was a Klansman, Sandra Day O’Connor started a Jazzercise class for fellow lawyers, and much more. Complete with 35 irreverent portraits, Secret Lives of the Supreme Court will be a hit with U.S. history buffs and anyone seeking a fuller understanding of current events.

Robert Schnakenberg is the author of Secret Lives of Great Authors. He lives in Brooklyn.