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ederwin's review
5.0
"SOME THINGS ARE JUST NOT RIGHT."
As I started reading this, I realized I'd read it already 15 years ago. But I enjoyed it so much, I read it again. I guess I just love a good tragedy.
Ken Smith does a great service here in unearthing 22 mostly-unknown stories. He reads big books so you don't have to, boiling the stories down to 20 page summaries. I do a minor disservice in boiling them down to 20 word summaries. But hopefully that will spur you to read the book.
"Are you fed up with all the self-affirming, ego-inflating, think-positive-and-you-can-win hogwash that pervades our times? ... if you think life is tough, read RAW DEAL and find out just how bad it can get when bad things happen to good people."
Some stories are not surprising. Lessons: don't be non-white; don't fight the government; don't fight big business.
But some are eye-opening. You'd think that if you invent radio, or discover gold, or find a way to extract oil from the ground, or invent a way to make rubber useful, that you'd get rich and famous. Think again!
I also love [b:Ken's Guide to the Bible|449691|Ken's Guide to the Bible|Ken Smith|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1381325018s/449691.jpg|438337], which is how I discovered this author.
Below I link to some of the sources used in making this book. In a few cases I swapped-out a more recent reference.
1. US treats an African man as sub-human. Surprised? [b:Ota, the Pygmy in the Zoo|1325423|Ota The Pygmy in the Zoo|Phillips Verner Bradford|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1182769489s/1325423.jpg|1314848]
2. Before radio, there were dedicated lines bringing the music of the Telharmonium into your home. (Thaddeus Cahill didn't really get a raw deal except for being affected by a stock marker crash. Radio just eventually replaced his invention.) [b:Magic Music from the Telharmonium|2153292|Magic Music from the Telharmonium|Reynold H. Weidenaar|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348606585s/2153292.jpg|2158791]
3. Frank Olson worked on germ warfare but had second thoughts after taking LSD. Falls dead from a window. Ken Smith treats Frank Olson's death as an accident or suicide. [b:Acid Dreams: The CIA, LSD and the Sixties Rebellion|260352|Acid Dreams The CIA, LSD and the Sixties Rebellion|Martin A. Lee|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1366489617s/260352.jpg|252347]. There are other opinions, but surely the CIA doesn't murder people? [b:A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA's Secret Cold War Experiments|3204395|A Terrible Mistake The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA's Secret Cold War Experiments|H.P. Albarelli|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328764786s/3204395.jpg|3237737]
4. Chyenne chief tries to make peace with the white man. Spoiler alert: [b:The Massacre at Sand Creek|782031|The Massacre at Sand Creek Narrative Voices|Bruce Cutler|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328814335s/782031.jpg|768047]
5. Horace Wells discovers anesthesia makes dentistry less painful. Others claim credit. Discovers anesthesia makes suicide less painful. [b:A Calculus of Suffering: Pain, Professionalism, and Anesthesia in Nineteenth-Century America|2020348|A Calculus of Suffering Pain, Professionalism, and Anesthesia in Nineteenth-Century America|Martin S. Pernick|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|2024737]
6. Prairie dogs. Cute, harmless, good for the ecosystem. So, of course we kill 4,500,000,000 of them (99.75 percent). Flame-throwers prove particularly effective. [b:Waste of the West: Public Lands Ranching|345799|Waste of the West Public Lands Ranching|Lynn Jacobs|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1266530098s/345799.jpg|336104]
7. Is Plutonium good for you? Let's find out! (Shh! Don't tell the "volunteers"!) [b:The Human Radiation Experiments|2159629|The Human Radiation Experiments|Advisory Committee on Human Radiation|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348764147s/2159629.jpg|2165151]
8. John Sutter tries to build a utopia, but is ruined and bankrupted after the discovery of gold in his creek. [b:Fool's Gold: The Decline and Fall of Captain John Sutter of California|16255732|Fool's Gold The Decline and Fall of Captain John Sutter of California|Richard H. Dillon|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1356010299s/16255732.jpg|22298975]
9. Who invented radio and wireless phones? [b:To Be Greater Than Marconi: The Nathan B. Stubblefield Story|18260284|To Be Greater Than Marconi The Nathan B. Stubblefield Story|Tracey D. Buchanan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1375674678s/18260284.jpg|25719656]
10. Killed (probably) for blowing the whistle. [b:The Death Of Karen Silkwood|3188505|The Death Of Karen Silkwood|Joyce Hannam|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1361780307s/3188505.jpg|3221440]
11. James Garfield might have survived his bullet wounds if doctors would have stopped sticking their dirty fingers in them, and if they had let him eat food rather than boofing bourbon and beef-broth up his butt.[b:Garfield|103662|Garfield|Allan Peskin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347673393s/103662.jpg|99950]
12. Remember the little girl that fell down a well? Such a copy-cat! [b:Trapped! The Story of Floyd Collins|809830|Trapped! The Story of Floyd Collins|Robert K. Murray|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347572905s/809830.jpg|795771]
13. The governor commuted Leo Frank's life sentence, because he probably didn't kill that girl. That didn't stop a mob and the KKK from breaking him out of jail to kill him. [b:A Little Girl Is Dead|3944707|A Little Girl Is Dead|Harry Lewis Golden|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1318440475s/3944707.jpg|3990330]
14. Invents vulcanized rubber. Never makes a dime from it. Congress, on advice of big business, denies his patent. But hey, a company named itself after him 40 years after he dies! [b:India Rubber Man: The Story of Charles Goodyear|25106775|India Rubber Man The Story of Charles Goodyear|Ralph Frank Wolf|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|44799557]
15. Got into Harvard at 9, but not allowed to enroll until 11. Becomes a university professor at 17. Mercilessly mocked by the press, he retreats from the public eye and takes only menial jobs. [b:The Prodigy: A Biography of William James Sidis, America's Greatest Child Prodigy|1107413|The Prodigy A Biography of William James Sidis, America's Greatest Child Prodigy|Amy Wallace|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1371136358s/1107413.jpg|1094356]
16. Wilhelm Reich. This one seems out of place. His ideas are kooky, especially later in his life. But was the government right to burn all his books? [b:Wilhelm Reich: The Man Who Dreamed of Tomorrow|2905775|Wilhelm Reich The Man Who Dreamed of Tomorrow|William Edward Mann|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1394393683s/2905775.jpg|2932925]
17. Paiute chief tries to make peace with the white man. Spoiler alert: [b:Life Among The Piutes: Their Wrongs And Claims|1058879|Life Among The Piutes Their Wrongs And Claims|Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1338834647s/1058879.jpg|697938]
18. Massacre by the Wobblies, or massacre of the Wobblies? You decide. [b:Solidarity Forever: An Oral History of the IWW|996860|Solidarity Forever An Oral History of the IWW|Stewart Bird|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328767872s/996860.jpg|982353]
19. Edwin Drake discovers how to get oil out of the ground. Did he strike it rich? Heck no. Big business screwed him good. [b:The Greatest Gamblers: The Epic of American Oil Exploration|762301|The Greatest Gamblers The Epic of American Oil Exploration|Ruth Sheldon Knowles|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1321945480s/762301.jpg|748394]
20. Lincoln freed the slaves! Except for composer Thomas Greene Wiggins who was just too valuable to be let free. (Obviously, many others had similar fates.) [b:Blind Tom, the Black Pianist-Composer (1849-1908): Continually Enslaved|1044515|Blind Tom, the Black Pianist-Composer (1849-1908) Continually Enslaved|Geneva Handy Southall|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348351484s/1044515.jpg|1030925]
21. Edwin Armstrong invents a better type of radio called FM. The government, at the request of big broadcasters, does all it can to make it fail. [b:Armstrong's fight for FM broadcasting: one man vs big business and bureaucracy|5140449|Armstrong's fight for FM broadcasting one man vs big business and bureaucracy|Don V. Erickson|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|5207346]
22. Guy gets PTSD and amnesia and half of a face blown off from serving in WWI. Gets no love from the government because they don't want to admit that their records of who was in the army are imperfect. [b:Jerry Tarbot: The Living Unknown Soldier|37381518|Jerry Tarbot The Living Unknown Soldier (Classic Reprint)|Jerry Tarbot|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1516483483s/37381518.jpg|59033371]
Full-page black and white llustrations for each chapter by [a:Mack White|95885|Mack White|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png].
As I started reading this, I realized I'd read it already 15 years ago. But I enjoyed it so much, I read it again. I guess I just love a good tragedy.
Ken Smith does a great service here in unearthing 22 mostly-unknown stories. He reads big books so you don't have to, boiling the stories down to 20 page summaries. I do a minor disservice in boiling them down to 20 word summaries. But hopefully that will spur you to read the book.
"Are you fed up with all the self-affirming, ego-inflating, think-positive-and-you-can-win hogwash that pervades our times? ... if you think life is tough, read RAW DEAL and find out just how bad it can get when bad things happen to good people."
Some stories are not surprising. Lessons: don't be non-white; don't fight the government; don't fight big business.
But some are eye-opening. You'd think that if you invent radio, or discover gold, or find a way to extract oil from the ground, or invent a way to make rubber useful, that you'd get rich and famous. Think again!
I also love [b:Ken's Guide to the Bible|449691|Ken's Guide to the Bible|Ken Smith|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1381325018s/449691.jpg|438337], which is how I discovered this author.
Below I link to some of the sources used in making this book. In a few cases I swapped-out a more recent reference.
1. US treats an African man as sub-human. Surprised? [b:Ota, the Pygmy in the Zoo|1325423|Ota The Pygmy in the Zoo|Phillips Verner Bradford|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1182769489s/1325423.jpg|1314848]
2. Before radio, there were dedicated lines bringing the music of the Telharmonium into your home. (Thaddeus Cahill didn't really get a raw deal except for being affected by a stock marker crash. Radio just eventually replaced his invention.) [b:Magic Music from the Telharmonium|2153292|Magic Music from the Telharmonium|Reynold H. Weidenaar|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348606585s/2153292.jpg|2158791]
3. Frank Olson worked on germ warfare but had second thoughts after taking LSD. Falls dead from a window. Ken Smith treats Frank Olson's death as an accident or suicide. [b:Acid Dreams: The CIA, LSD and the Sixties Rebellion|260352|Acid Dreams The CIA, LSD and the Sixties Rebellion|Martin A. Lee|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1366489617s/260352.jpg|252347]. There are other opinions, but surely the CIA doesn't murder people? [b:A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA's Secret Cold War Experiments|3204395|A Terrible Mistake The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA's Secret Cold War Experiments|H.P. Albarelli|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328764786s/3204395.jpg|3237737]
4. Chyenne chief tries to make peace with the white man. Spoiler alert: [b:The Massacre at Sand Creek|782031|The Massacre at Sand Creek Narrative Voices|Bruce Cutler|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328814335s/782031.jpg|768047]
5. Horace Wells discovers anesthesia makes dentistry less painful. Others claim credit. Discovers anesthesia makes suicide less painful. [b:A Calculus of Suffering: Pain, Professionalism, and Anesthesia in Nineteenth-Century America|2020348|A Calculus of Suffering Pain, Professionalism, and Anesthesia in Nineteenth-Century America|Martin S. Pernick|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|2024737]
6. Prairie dogs. Cute, harmless, good for the ecosystem. So, of course we kill 4,500,000,000 of them (99.75 percent). Flame-throwers prove particularly effective. [b:Waste of the West: Public Lands Ranching|345799|Waste of the West Public Lands Ranching|Lynn Jacobs|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1266530098s/345799.jpg|336104]
7. Is Plutonium good for you? Let's find out! (Shh! Don't tell the "volunteers"!) [b:The Human Radiation Experiments|2159629|The Human Radiation Experiments|Advisory Committee on Human Radiation|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348764147s/2159629.jpg|2165151]
8. John Sutter tries to build a utopia, but is ruined and bankrupted after the discovery of gold in his creek. [b:Fool's Gold: The Decline and Fall of Captain John Sutter of California|16255732|Fool's Gold The Decline and Fall of Captain John Sutter of California|Richard H. Dillon|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1356010299s/16255732.jpg|22298975]
9. Who invented radio and wireless phones? [b:To Be Greater Than Marconi: The Nathan B. Stubblefield Story|18260284|To Be Greater Than Marconi The Nathan B. Stubblefield Story|Tracey D. Buchanan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1375674678s/18260284.jpg|25719656]
10. Killed (probably) for blowing the whistle. [b:The Death Of Karen Silkwood|3188505|The Death Of Karen Silkwood|Joyce Hannam|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1361780307s/3188505.jpg|3221440]
11. James Garfield might have survived his bullet wounds if doctors would have stopped sticking their dirty fingers in them, and if they had let him eat food rather than boofing bourbon and beef-broth up his butt.[b:Garfield|103662|Garfield|Allan Peskin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347673393s/103662.jpg|99950]
12. Remember the little girl that fell down a well? Such a copy-cat! [b:Trapped! The Story of Floyd Collins|809830|Trapped! The Story of Floyd Collins|Robert K. Murray|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347572905s/809830.jpg|795771]
13. The governor commuted Leo Frank's life sentence, because he probably didn't kill that girl. That didn't stop a mob and the KKK from breaking him out of jail to kill him. [b:A Little Girl Is Dead|3944707|A Little Girl Is Dead|Harry Lewis Golden|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1318440475s/3944707.jpg|3990330]
14. Invents vulcanized rubber. Never makes a dime from it. Congress, on advice of big business, denies his patent. But hey, a company named itself after him 40 years after he dies! [b:India Rubber Man: The Story of Charles Goodyear|25106775|India Rubber Man The Story of Charles Goodyear|Ralph Frank Wolf|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|44799557]
15. Got into Harvard at 9, but not allowed to enroll until 11. Becomes a university professor at 17. Mercilessly mocked by the press, he retreats from the public eye and takes only menial jobs. [b:The Prodigy: A Biography of William James Sidis, America's Greatest Child Prodigy|1107413|The Prodigy A Biography of William James Sidis, America's Greatest Child Prodigy|Amy Wallace|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1371136358s/1107413.jpg|1094356]
16. Wilhelm Reich. This one seems out of place. His ideas are kooky, especially later in his life. But was the government right to burn all his books? [b:Wilhelm Reich: The Man Who Dreamed of Tomorrow|2905775|Wilhelm Reich The Man Who Dreamed of Tomorrow|William Edward Mann|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1394393683s/2905775.jpg|2932925]
17. Paiute chief tries to make peace with the white man. Spoiler alert: [b:Life Among The Piutes: Their Wrongs And Claims|1058879|Life Among The Piutes Their Wrongs And Claims|Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1338834647s/1058879.jpg|697938]
18. Massacre by the Wobblies, or massacre of the Wobblies? You decide. [b:Solidarity Forever: An Oral History of the IWW|996860|Solidarity Forever An Oral History of the IWW|Stewart Bird|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328767872s/996860.jpg|982353]
19. Edwin Drake discovers how to get oil out of the ground. Did he strike it rich? Heck no. Big business screwed him good. [b:The Greatest Gamblers: The Epic of American Oil Exploration|762301|The Greatest Gamblers The Epic of American Oil Exploration|Ruth Sheldon Knowles|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1321945480s/762301.jpg|748394]
20. Lincoln freed the slaves! Except for composer Thomas Greene Wiggins who was just too valuable to be let free. (Obviously, many others had similar fates.) [b:Blind Tom, the Black Pianist-Composer (1849-1908): Continually Enslaved|1044515|Blind Tom, the Black Pianist-Composer (1849-1908) Continually Enslaved|Geneva Handy Southall|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348351484s/1044515.jpg|1030925]
21. Edwin Armstrong invents a better type of radio called FM. The government, at the request of big broadcasters, does all it can to make it fail. [b:Armstrong's fight for FM broadcasting: one man vs big business and bureaucracy|5140449|Armstrong's fight for FM broadcasting one man vs big business and bureaucracy|Don V. Erickson|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|5207346]
22. Guy gets PTSD and amnesia and half of a face blown off from serving in WWI. Gets no love from the government because they don't want to admit that their records of who was in the army are imperfect. [b:Jerry Tarbot: The Living Unknown Soldier|37381518|Jerry Tarbot The Living Unknown Soldier (Classic Reprint)|Jerry Tarbot|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1516483483s/37381518.jpg|59033371]
Full-page black and white llustrations for each chapter by [a:Mack White|95885|Mack White|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png].
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