Unsolved Mysteries of American History re-creates the most mystifying events of our past and follows some of our greatest historians as they search for answers. Like seasoned detectives, these historians gather evidence, pore over eyewitness testimony, head down some dead ends, unmask liars and frauds, and offer their solutions. Here is everything you'd want in a great detective story: the twists and turns, the intellectual challenges, even the espionage and murder.

Bringing clarity and a beautifully balanced perspective to his diverse subjects, Paul Aron makes sense of all the latest discoveries and speculation, revealing: What was the meaning of CROATAN, the puzzling letters carved on the fort at the Lost Colony of Roanoke? Do reports from the Mexican side of the legendary battle suggest that Davy Crockett did not die at the Alamo? What prompted Confederate Army mastermind Robert E. Lee to order the suicidal Pickett's Charge? What did nuclear engineers discover while examining the wreckage of the Maine? What dramatic revelations emerged from the FBI and KGB files on Julius and Ethel Rosenberg? Is there evidence that the battle at the Gulf of Tonkin— a key factor in America's escalation of the Vietnam War— may never have taken place?

"Like the best historians, Aron renews our sense of the past with challenging questions instead of easy answers. And he does so with a style that would make most historians envious." — RichardLowry College of William and Mary

Advance praise for Unsolved Mysteries of American History

"An uncommonly satisfying read. Aron performs something of a minor miracle: He zeroes in on the very core of historical mysteries and provides new insights for reconsidering mysti