Historical Heartthrobs: 50 Timeless Crushes—From Cleopatra to Camus
Author(s): Kelly Murphy, Hallie Fryd
This book compiles photos and life stories of 50 of the sexiest men and women from history and asks the essential question: Would you really want to date them? Some are artists, some are scientists, and many are political or military leaders, but all have had a lasting impact on human life—and a sizable impact on their admirers as well. Each entry describes the period in which the heartthrob lived and includes essential stats, hilarious sidebars, and, of course, a “crushability” ranking: a measurement of how crush-worthy these people really are, based on their relative levels of heroism (or villainy).
Published January 7th 2014.
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Get the skinny on 50 of history’s hottest heartthrobs and rekindle your romantic imagination with the new book, Historical Heartthrobs: 50 Timeless Crushes-- From Cleopatra to Camus. Delve into the details of the romantic lives (as well as the key contributions to history) of this attractive collection of charismatic men and women from the ages. From the smoldering Pablo Picasso and the electric Nikola Tesla to the chic Coco Chanel, this book and blog tour will inspire you to make a date with history—just in time for Valentine’s Day!
As a History student, I've always had a love-hate relationship with the subject I'm studying. There are moments when the reason why I study History to elude me, such as when I'm typing a lengthy response to one of those Structured Essay or Source-Based Questions. And then, there are moments like this which make me remember why I like History so so much.
Reading this book was a superb experience in itself-- for the first time, I was looking at historical personalities through the lenses of modern-day idolatry. They were portrayed in glamorous pictures, given a simple breakdown of their love life, areas of influence, their best features and also a heat factor. It was almost like The Bachelor starring famous and infamous men and women in history, the ones who might have ruled a nation, inspired a war or created a long-lasting legacy-- both scandalous and otherwise.
One of my favorites was Sylvia Plath, of whom I knew close to nought. I've enjoyed her poetry, though sometimes they were too morbid for my taste, but other times, I've tended to avoid her as much as I can. But the few pages on her life in this novel were brilliant and captivating to the maximum-- her heartbreaking and unstable marriage to Ted Hughes that was described as "star-crossed" by contemporary author, Erica Jong; her initial failure in writing; her notorious poetry collection, Ariel, after her breakup with Hughes; her eventual depression and suicide. With wittiness and flair, this non-fiction novel showcased Plath's life and transfixed me using chapter dividers like "Best Features", "Why She Matters" and "In Her Own Words", convincing me of her dark seduction and the visceral power of her words. Wonderfully written, this book is a must for any history lover or anyone who has ever eagerly Googled the young pictures of certain historical figures for pure fun (honestly, you should be a history junkie if that was the case). Historical Heartthrobs will inform, educate, entertain and maybe, even make a history fan out of you.
All I can say is 'thank-you' to the two genius writers who thought up of a concept like this book and made it happen-- history has never seemed more fun.
Source: For review purposes from Zest Books (as part of the blog tour)
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Sponsored by Zest Books.
