Spotlight and Giveaway: THE MENTAL FLOSS HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES

CLOSED.

Rules for entering this giveaway

are at the bottom of this post.

THE  MENTAL FLOSS HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES:

 The (Almost) Complete and (Entirely) Entertaining Story of America

by Erik Sass with Will Pearson and Mangesh Hattikudur

Pub. Date: October 2010

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Format: Hardcover, 420pp

Sales Rank: 1,344

ISBN-13: 9780061928222

SBN: 0061928224

Description (from the publisher):

Was Abraham Lincoln really a heroic defender of liberty and freedom?

Were the Sixties actually a groovy time of peace and love?

Has the U.S. always been dependent on foreign oil?

Does internet dating really work?

Americans are patriotic people: a 2008 poll showed 72% believe the U.S.A. is “the best nation in the world.”  But it turns out that “patriotic” and “historically knowledgeable” are two different things: in recent surveys, almost half of American’s didn’t know who led the Continental Army to victory (some guy named George), 25% of high school students believed that Columbus set sail after 1750, and a third couldn’t say in which century the American Revolution occurred.  Is this shocking lack of knowledge due to the fact that THE MENTAL FLOSS HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES: The (Almost) Complete and (Entirely) Entertaining Story of America (Harper: October 5, 2010; Hardcover; $24.99) won’t be on shelves until October?  Possibly so.

In trademark smart-aleck style, the geniuses at mental_floss provide the history book you’ve always wished you had.  This hilarious romp through our nation’s past reveals little-known truths, exposes lies our teachers told us, and provides insight into the oddities of America’s most infamous citizens.  THE MENTAL FLOSS HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES spans America’s entire history, from social and political events to major phenomena in science, literature, and fashion, tackling our greatest questions and misconceptions.

With detailed timelines and charts, a “by the numbers” round-up, and tons of amusing trivia in each chapter, THE MENTAL FLOSS HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES sets the historical record straight at last.  Filled with juicy tales of political intrigue, serial killers, the original Swine Flu, potato chips, Puritans, rum, and more, this entertaining and insightful history will answer all of your questions about everything made in the U.S.A.

Smarter than a history teacher, funnier than the Founding Fathers, and more American than Alaska, an almost (but not entirely) comprehensive primer on American history (or at least, the good stuff).

Click here to read an excerpt.

About the authors (from the publisher):

 Erik Sass is a journalist based in Los Angeles with branch offices around the country.  When not writing for mental_floss, he reports on the media and advertising business for MediaPost.com.  He lives in Santa Monica with his roommate, an ill-tempered 500-pound adult male Bengal tiger named Big Al.

Will Pearson and Mangesh Hattikudur met as freshmen at Duke University, where they parlayed their cafeteria conversations into the first issue of mental_floss magazine.  Ten years later, they’ve created a knowledge empire.  In addition to the magazine, the pair has produced two board games, a t-shirt line, and a Web site (mentalfloss.com) that attracts millions of visitors every month.

Will and Mangesh have also collaborated on over 10 books together, including Condensed Knowledge, Forbidden Knowledge, History of the World, and Lolita, written under the pen name Vladimir Nabokov.

Thanks to Harper Collins, I have two (2) copies to giveaway. Here's the hows and wherefores:

RULES FOR ENTERING THE GIVEAWAY:

• Leave an original comment on this post telling me you would like to win. Include an email address with your comment so that I can contact you if you do win. Use a spam-thwarting format such as geebee.reads AT gmail DOT com or geebee.reads [at] gmail [dot] com

• You must leave an email address in order to qualify. If I can't contact you, you can't win!

• You can earn an extra entry by being or becoming a Follower or Subscriber of this blog and telling me about it in a separate comment.

• Blog about this contest and provide me with the link to the post in a separate comment, and I'll give you yet another entry.

• Tweeting about this contest and providing me the link in a separate comment will get you one more entry. I've added a Retweet button at the bottom of every post.

• Stumble this blog, Digg it, or Technorati Fave it, whatever, and leave a separate comment for another entry.

• Winners must provide a U.S. or Canadian street address. No P.O. Boxes.

• PLEASE NOTE: One win per household. If you win this title in another contest hosted at another blog, the publisher will only send one copy per household address.

• Deadline for entry is 11:59 p.m. EST on Thursday, October 14, 2010.

• Winners will have 48 hours to respond to my email announcing that they have won; if I don't hear from a winner, I will draw another name.

• Winners are determined using the sequence generator at Random.org.

Thank you to Shawn at WiredSet
and Harper Collins

for making this giveaway possible.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.