When Hitler Took Cocaine and Lenin Lost His Brain

A man on the RMS Titanic got so drunk that he survived the terrible cold of the North Atlantic water until he was pulled onto a lifeboat. Agatha Christie disappeared for 11 days in 1926 and was found in a hotel under the name of her husband's mistress. These are just two of the fascinating accounts Milton (Russian Roulette; White Gold) shares in this wonderfully diverse collection. There are a total of 25 short tales, categorized into headings such as "I Never Knew That About Hitler" and "Ladies in Disguise." Each story is told in a narrative style that makes the reader feel the chill of Mount Everest, the fear in the trenches of two World Wars, and the hideousness of human cannibalism in the face of extreme starvation. Some of the stories will be more familiar but many more have been almost forgotten. For example, there is the odd death of Alfred Loewenstein, who fell out of his plane over the English Channel—or was he thrown out?