Recent Reads: Charlatan and Shakespeare: World as Stage

I recently finished two books: Charlatan: America's Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Caught him, and the age of Flimflam " by Pope Brock and "Shakespeare: The World as Stage" by Bill Bryson. Charlatan was an incredibly interesting book about John Brinkley, the most successful medical con man in the United States history and the editor of the then-fledgling American Medical Association Journal, Morris Fishbein.

Brinkley made millions, opening hospitals first in Milford, Ks. then in Del Rio, Texas to implant goat glands in men who have, well, let's just say goat gland implants were the 1930's version of Viagra. I could have done with less medical detail, but it was interesting to learn how Brinkley was actually the winner of the 1930 Kansas Gubernatorial race, but was cheated by collusion between the GOP and Demo's (both of whom later admitted it.) Brinkley, through his botched surgeries and the selling of colored water as various prescription formulas deserves to be thought of as a mass murderer, but he was also the forerunner of radio advertising - building a radio station in Milford, then when it was closed down by the FCC he opened one across the Mexican border from Del Rio. His station was eventually 1 million watts and could be heard across the country, blotting out local stations. Between ads for his hospital and his 'prescriptions' he introduced country and bluegrass to the U.S. - most people heard the Carter family for the first time on XERA, his Del Rio station.

Bill Bryson's Shakespeare book, like all of his books, is both an absolute hoot and a really interesting biography. Bryson gives us great imagery of England and especially London during the time of Shakespeare. He also gives an overview of some of the detailed research and studies on Shakespeare, and attacks the supposed 'other writer' theories with relish - laying out then tearing down one after the other, demonstrating the conjecture is not based on anything factual - one of my favorite points in the book is when he looks into the claim that "there is no evidence that Shakespeare ever owned a book." After acknowledging that this is true, he reflects on the other evidence and shows that we also have no proof that Shakespeare ever owned shoes or pants - yet we assume he did not spend his entire life naked from the waist down.
Anyone who loves Bryson's books, Shakespeare's plays or sonnets, or just the Elizabethan and Jacobean ages will enjoy this book.