"The spread of this sort of nonsense, being pawned off as historical fact, needs to stop."
I even heard this (the "Mark Twain/Bar tab" story) on a video from Netflix (not just a local newspaper's site); it might even have been Ken Burns' documentary. My wife now believes that. - B. Clay Shannon
From: Kevin Mac Donnell <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thursday, June 8, 2017 10:50 AM
Subject: Re: Hardly scholarly but a fun read.
Thanks for this. It was interesting, and fun, but I was sorry to see a local
"historian Carolyn Eichin" in Nevada pushing the debunked bar-tab story as
the explanation for Mark Twain's name. As some in this Forum will recall,
Alf Doten admitted in an interview that he was the source of that ridiculous
hoax. The spread of this sort of nonsense, being pawned off as historical
fact, needs to stop. I also cringe when I see desks, chairs, and bric-a-brac
that was supposedly used by Twain proudly displayed in public
museums--relics for which there is no documentation or even a reasonable
provenance. The world is full of fake relics and fake facts, but the bogus
relics should not be on display and the fake facts should be smacked down.
It reminds me of Twain's reaction to seeing Jesus relics everywhere along
the route of the Quaker City tour. BTW, on the subject of Jesus, for anyone
curious to know how Jesus got his name, I refer you to George Carlin's
account, which seems as plausible as any.
Kevin
@
Mac Donnell Rare Books
9307 Glenlake Drive
Austin TX 78730
512-345-4139
Member: ABAA, ILAB
*************************
You may browse our books at:
www.macdonnellrarebooks.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Tony Verhulst
Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2017 8:20 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Hardly scholarly but a fun read.
http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-road-trips-twain-trail-20170611-htmlstory.html
Tony
|
