Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction Quiz

Answer: Paris

Ernest Hemingway was visiting Paris in the 1950s when he ran across an old steamer trunk of his that had been stored in the Ritz Hotel basement. He discovered a series of notebooks in it from his time in Paris in 1920s. In the notebooks he outlined what it felt like to be in the city as a struggling writer.

He described stores, cafes, and landmarks as well as famous people he met such as Gertrude Stein or Zelda Fitzgerald. He had witty remarks throughout such as: "Never go on trips with anyone you do not love".

He spent part of the late 50s and early 60s turning the notebooks into the non-fiction book "A Moveable Feast". He finished it in Cuba shortly before he died. His widow published it. The book flew back up to the top of the best seller list in Paris in 2015 after a terrorist attack in that city.

The people of France said it reminded them of better times in their home and they wanted to reflect on those words instead of the horror they had just experienced.

Answer: Synthetic pesticides

Rachel Carson received a letter from a friend of hers in Cape Cod in the late 1950s. The letter described how her friend noticed many of the local birds dying after the area was sprayed with DDT, a synthetic pesticide, to control mosquito populations. Ms. Carson spent the next four years interviewing fellow scientists, doing research, and writing about her findings. Since, as she put it, "in nature nothing exists alone", she described how chemicals like DDT not only cause cancer but stay toxic for months after their application and affect a variety of flora and fauna. Chemical companies threatened lawsuits but her book entitled "Silent Spring" was published in 1962 and included over 55 pages of notes and witnesses. Rachel Carson died of cancer in 1964 but her non-fiction book created tremendous public awareness of environmental concerns, began the banning of DDT, and spurred the creation of the EPA in 1970.

Answer: Convicts from Britain

Robert Hughes, an art critic from Australia, was doing a television show in the 1970s about art from his native land when he became interested in the local prisons and their history. He spent the next ten years researching the colonization of Australia by the prisoners sent over from Britain.

In 1986 his book "Fatal Shore" was published. As he stated, America colonization was typically done voluntarily and with people excited and looking to the future. Australia, however, was done by the British legal system sending prisoners. And even though "any land looks like Eden after months at sea", the prisoners soon found themselves in deep despair and hardship. Starting in 1788, Britain began transporting all kinds of criminals from their overcrowded jails to Australia. Once these people came to ports like Sydney, they were then put to work.

The book depicts the type of journey they endured, the life they led in the new colony, and the settling in of a new home after a potential pardon. Mr Hughes also goes on to explain how the history of this act came to affect and even create the people and personalities of Australia.

Answer: Baseball

Jim Bouton was playing for the New York Yankees when he was asked to write a memoir about being a professional baseball player. As he had taken notes during the 1969 season, he jumped at the idea. His book, "Ball Four", was about his time with the short-lived Seattle Pilots and a brief stint with the Houston Astros.

In the book, he described the reality of life as a ball player, including the profanity, the extramarital affairs, the use of illegal drugs, and the drinking. He also showed that the players suffered from physical pain as well as tremendous self-doubt and worry.

He described the sometimes-inept management of the teams and how it impacted the men. The Major League Baseball commissioner lobbied to have Mr Bouton declare the novel 'fiction' and he refused.

His teammates shunned him and he was never invited back to the New York Yankees reunions. Perhaps he summed it up best when he wrote: "A ballplayer spends a good piece of his life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time."

Answer: French

Julia Child, after serving in the Office of Strategic Services during WWII and handling top secret documents, married and moved to Paris. While there, during the 1950s, she joined forces with two other female chefs she met in culinary school. They opened their own chef school and began compiling a book.

The goal of the cookbook was to make seemingly complicated French culinary skills achievable by the average American at home. Volume 1 was published in 1961 and focused on cooking while Volume 2 worked more with baking techniques.

The recipes helped people see cooking French food as more of a fun art than a challenge or drudgery after work. As she stated: "Do not be afraid of being less than perfect". Ms Child went on to star in a television show where she cooked recipes on camera.

The book gathered attention again in 2012 when a movie was made called "Julie and Julia" which featured a blogger making all of the dishes from the cookbook.

Answer: Humans

The nonfiction book "The Naked Ape" focused on the evolution of man. Desmond Morris, as he wrote it, "viewed fellow man not as a fallen angel, but as a risen ape". He explored how man evolved into his current state as he became more of a hunter than a gatherer. Desmond Morris also spent time studying the sexuality of mankind and how humans are bonded to other animals in their environment.

The book was considered anti-Christian by many people and was banned several times. Morris said he simply wanted to make science easier to understand and to highlight why mankind acts the way it does.

He went on to become a well known television and film maker as well as an artist. He also wrote several more books, including more controversial ones that focused on the roles of men and women in society.

Answer: American Civil War

Shelby Foote, who grew up in Mississippi and lived in Tennessee, was contacted in the 1950s to write a short narrative about the Civil War after the success of his fictional novel "Shiloh". Instead, it turned into a twenty year project covering three volumes. Volume 1 began with Jefferson Davis resigning from the US Senate to secede and ended in the fall of 1862 with battles in Kentucky. Volume 2 focused primarily on 1863 and its major battles including Gettysburg and the siege of Vicksburg. Volume 3, published in 1974, highlighted the ending of the war with campaigns in Virginia and Georgia and culminated with the South's surrender and Lincoln's assassination.

As Mr Foote put it, the war was a "crossroads of our being, and it was a hell of a crossroads." He went on to gain fame as part of a Civil War documentary done by Ken Burns in 1990 where he had over 85 appearances.

Answer: Stephen King

Stephen King, author of almost one hundred novels and short story collections, wrote a non-fiction memoir in 2000 about writing. The first section detailed his own influences on his decision to write in his home state of Maine. These included his family and his marriage to a fellow writer.

The second section described writing as he felt it while the third section focused on tools of the trade such as grammar and vocabulary. The fourth section outlined his own personal advice for aspiring writers.

The fifth and final section described his recent accident when he was hit by a van while walking in 1999 and how it impacted his writing. As he said: "Writing is not life, but I think that sometimes it can be a way back to life." Mr. King has over 350 million copies of his books in print and many of them have been turned into movies.

Answer: Native Americans

Dee Brown was a librarian who was always interested in the American West. He decided to utilize council records and autobiographies of Native American chiefs and warriors to tell how the West was really won. He focused on how badly the tribes were treated by the US government and by the settlers and soldiers.

His first chapter outlined the history of Native Americans up until 1860 and then subsequent chapters told the tales of various tribes from the point of view of the tribal leaders and members.

He wrote about the Navajo and how the US Army use a "scorched earth" campaign to eradicate their lands. The Sioux realized many unfulfilled promises. As he quoted them: "They made us many promises, more than I can remember, but they never kept but one; they promised to take our land, and they took it." Mr. Brown outlined how the gold rush and Civil War took its toll on the land and the people and how forced relocation destroyed the soul and food of the inhabitants.

The book's release turned people's attention to the plight of the Native American and has sold more than 4 million copies and been made into a film.

Answer: Appalachians

Bill Bryson and his friend Stephen Katz hiked part of the Appalachian Trail, which runs from Georgia to Maine, in 1996. Bryson then penned a memoir about it in 1998 in which he highlighted the history of the mountains and trail, the wildlife they encountered (including bears), and the plants and ecology they saw.

He wrote about it all with a funny, satirical tone at many times and portrayed he and his friend as average 40-year-old's attempting something hard. As he put it: "This wouldn't be so bad, I told myself.

But secretly, I knew that I was quite wrong." His friend, Katz, was overweight and could barely go an hour without a doughnut but provided good company and lots of laughs. The funny, real travel book was made into a movie later that starred Robert Redford and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.