Download or read book Great Pretenders written by Jan Bondeson and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2005-03-15 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most countries have their own national mysteries that have never been solved, enigmatic figures who have disappeared, pretenders who have surfaced to claim their rights, and many of these are now in the realms of folklore and legend. However, in this study, six case studies are reopened and re-examined using modern historical and medical science, including DNA technology. Among those investigated by Bondeson are the fate of the son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, the identity of the German Kaspar Hauser, the faked death of Tsar Alexander I, and the alleged secret marriage of George III. A light-hearted read for the curious.