Napoleon's Privates: 2,500 Years of History Unzipped
"Napoleon's Privates: 2,500 Years of History Unzipped" by Tony PerrottetSo did Catherine the Great really fuck a horse? Of course, she didn't. Any more than the Romans of Caligula's time indulged in nightly orgies or J. Edgar Hoover wore dresses or Adolf Hitler soldiered through life with one testicle. On the other hand, Alexander the Great really did get it on with his childhood buddy, Hephestaion, and castrati really could keep it up during sex (provided they'd been neutered after age 10), and T.E. Lawrence truly did hire rough trade to whack him on the ass. If any of these factoids swell your loins, then by all means wallow in Tony Perrottet's sinfully entertaining survey of perversion. "Napoleon's Privates," as you might have gathered, refers to the Great Man's maybe-not-so-great stick, which was allegedly hacked off upon his death and may have ended up in a suitcase beneath the bed of America's leading urologist. It is currently the size of a baby's finger. Sic transit gloria mundi. -- Louis Bayard
When Tony Perrottet heard that Napoleon's "baguette" had been stolen by his disgruntled doctor a few days after the Emperor's death, he rushed out to New Jersey. Why? Because that's where an eccentric American collector who had purchased Napoleon's member at a Parisian auction now kept the actual relic in an old suitcase under his bed.
The story of Napoleon's privates triggered Perrottet's quest to research other such exotic sagas from history, to discover the actual evidence behind the most famous age-old mysteries: Did Churchill really send condoms of a surprising size to Stalin? Were champagne glasses really molded upon Marie Antoinette's breasts? What was JFK's real secret service? What were Casanova's best pickup lines? Napoleon's Privates is filled with offbeat, riotously entertaining anecdotes that are guaranteed to amaze, shock, and enliven any dinner party.
About the AuthorA long-term denizen of Manhattan, Tony Perrottet is the author of Pagan Holiday: On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists and The Naked Olympics: The True Story of the Ancient Greek Games. His irreverent yet thoroughly researched approach to history has made him a regular contributor to Smithsonian Magazine, CondÉ Nast Traveler, Outside, The Believer, National Geographic Adventure, and the New York Times, with frequent appearances on NPR radio and the History Channel, where he has discussed everything from the Crusades to the birth of disco.
posted by Tom Jackson @ Friday, June 27, 2008
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home