A Curious Man: The Strange and Brilliant Life of Robert "Believe it or Not!" Ripley

In the first biography of Robert Ripley (1890–1949) since Robert Bernard Considine's Ripley, the Modern Day Marco Polo over 50 years ago, Thompson (Driving with the Devil: Southern Moonshine, Detroit Wheels, and the Birth of NASCAR) presents a well-researched tale of the man born LeRoy Ripley, who combined his talent for drawing cartoons, beginning with sports-related newspaper spreads, with his interest in strange facts to create what became the multimedia Believe It or Not! brand. Ripley grew from a shy, stuttering, buck-toothed dropout to a world-renowned traveler, eccentric, and playboy. Although sometimes a boor, with biases and awkwardness on display, Ripley's dedication to learning and his success in illustrating elusive realities is conveyed by Thompson in a manner that makes Ripley a sympathetic character. Between the world wars and during the Great Depression, Ripley provided escape and entertainment that lives on in today's popular culture that is full of over-the-top reality TV shows and excessive superlatives.