Secret Heroes: Everyday Americans Who Shaped Our World [9780062096043]

Overview

Secret Heroes is a remarkable compendium by Paul Martin, former Executive Editor of National Geographic Traveler, that illuminates the lives of thirty forgotten American heroes. Gathering together remarkable stories about unknown champions, explorers, inventors, and innovators who never made the pages of American history textbooks—not George Washington, but the tailor who saved his life…twice; the first African-American combat pilot; the 62-year-old female muckraking journalist who refused to turn her back on injustice—Secret Heroes is just the sort of fascinating and fun popular history that readers love, not unlike Kenneth C. Davis’s bestselling Don’t Know Much About® series and Rick Beyer’s The Greatest Stories Never Told.

Discover the untold stories of the spies, inventors, and humanitarians who shaped our world:

• Revolutionary War Spy: Meet Hercules Mulligan, the tailor whose quick thinking saved George Washington from capture not once, but twice.
• Civil War Espionage: Uncover the story of Mary Bowser, a former slave who became a Union spy inside the Confederate White House.
• Pioneering Aviator: Learn about Eugene Bullard, the son of a former slave who became the world’s first black combat pilot in WWI.
• Secret Inventor: The astonishing tale of Hollywood star Hedy Lamarr, whose secret invention of frequency-hopping technology paved the way for modern wireless communication.
• Unsung Heroes of History: Plus, profiles of a fierce muckraking journalist, the Choctaw Code Talkers who baffled the German army, and many more everyday Americans whose legacies deserve to be remembered.