History's Last Stand:
The Last Gasps, Fatal Falls and Fateful
Final Gambles of Heroes, Despots,
Empires and Civilizations

To be honest I love this kind of book -- easy-to-read, short entries -- perfect to carry in my bag when I'm stuck waiting in a doctor's office. History's Last Stand is loaded with wonderful little nuggets of information covering every aspect of human history.

But as enticing as this book is, it is full of factual pitfalls. I can only address those that stood out to me -- and I am by no means an expert in all fields at all times.

For instance, under "James VI", the authors credit him with uniting the crowns of Scotland and England. It is true that the House of Stewart ruled both kingdoms, but it was a single monarch wearing two crowns. The Act of Union that formally placed Scotland under English rule was not signed until 1707 during the reign of Queen Anne.

The last day of the American Civil War is listed as April 9, 1865 with Lee's surrender at Appomattox. This is a common misconception, and one that I had hoped the authors would correct. The Civil War continued for nearly another month, as the Union chased the last remaining Confederate forces. And while Abner Doubleday is credited with inventing the game of baseball, the sport was wildly popular in camps and prisons during the war, long before Doubleday got involved.

Did the band on the Titanic wind up their final gig with Nearer My God To Thee -- the popular belief -- or was it Autumn, a hymn on the band's standard play list and which many of the survivors identified?

The last moments of the "Red Baron" Manfred von Richthofen are not only very well documented, but were the subject of a recent episode of Unsolved History (my favorite show on forensic archeology). The baron was dying when he LANDED his Fokker triplane -- it did not crash and explode as written by the Del Re's. The last-living Australian (age 104 at the time of filming) described how he and his mates lifted the dying ace from his plane and hearing his last word "Kaput."

Perhaps the most glaring error is in the account of the last day of the Battle of Britain, October 31, 1940. "Pilots of Canada, the United States, Norway, and Israel had participated in the Battle of Britain against the Germans." Israel? -- not founded until after the war's conclusion. And while U.S. pilots may have been in Britain at the time, their presence was unofficial. The U.S. did not enter the war until after the attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941.

So, enjoy this little book, but be aware that the scholarship is not the best.