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Rating: 
Summary: very creepy, interesting
Review: I found this book in my dad's old books collection not too long ago, and its a good work to read. It introduced me to such personalities such as Primmie Niven, Carole Lombard and Huey Long (hey, I'm 23 they were way before my time). Forbes gives great detail and he makes death look interesting, not something to be look forward to. I can tell he had fun writing and researching this book and if Malcolm were alive today I'm sure someone would write a sequel to this book. Perhaps the sequel would have Princess Di (another monarchy figure), Kurt Cobain (Jimi and Jim of the 90s), Dr. Atkins (the so-called revolutionary diet hero dies from a fall) and maybe Malcolm himself. I always read at least one or two biographies in the book before I go to bed.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book - perhaps a misunderstood title
Review: I passed by this book 1000's of times, but finally took it off the shelf and saw the very fine print of the subtitle "How the famous, the infamous and the great died". Not the topic I had expected. I love trivia, so my interest was peaked.
From the dust-jacket flap: "Here, for your entrancement and enlightenment, are exits made by 175 people famous during the past 3,000 years". The book covers people from John Jacob Astor IV to 'Mama' Cass Elliot and Ivan the Terrible to Virginia Woolf. Don't know who the person was? He does briefly discuss what made the person famous (or infamous) and sometimes adds in some deliciously odd twists that occurred during the person's life. He then, of course, goes into their often bizarre or ironic deaths. Forbes speaks in language that is colorful and keeps you so interested that you want to read it from front to back, even though the set-up allows you to pick the book up, turn to any page and learn something that you didn't know before. I enjoyed it immensely.
Rating:
Summary: Great book - perhaps a misunderstood title
Review: I passed by this book 1000's of times, but finally took it off the shelf and saw the very fine print of the subtitle "How the famous, the infamous and the great died". Not the topic I had expected. I love trivia, so my interest was peaked.
From the dust-jacket flap: "Here, for your entrancement and enlightenment, are exits made by 175 people famous during the past 3,000 years". The book covers people from John Jacob Astor IV to 'Mama' Cass Elliot and Ivan the Terrible to Virginia Woolf. Don't know who the person was? He does briefly discuss what made the person famous (or infamous) and sometimes adds in some deliciously odd twists that occurred during the person's life. He then, of course, goes into their often bizarre or ironic deaths. Forbes speaks in language that is colorful and keeps you so interested that you want to read it from front to back, even though the set-up allows you to pick the book up, turn to any page and learn something that you didn't know before. I enjoyed it immensely.
Rating:
Summary: Different
Review: They Went That A-Way is a collection of over 150 1-2 page sketches of famous personalities, mostly from the 19th and 20th centuries. Each sketch contains a short summary of the person's life and accomplishments, then a description of how they met their end. The book is well done, however I found it a little depressing, as the majority of the personalities were dysfunctional, dying from alcoholism, drugs, or suicide.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing and Interesting Book
Review: This book by the late publishing mogul Malcolm Forbes offers a number of intriguing biographical sketches of famous people in history from all walks of life and basically tells how they died. A history professor introduced me to this book sometime ago and I've found it very intriguing... There are a lot of surprises and moments where even the ardent history buff will say "Hey I didn't know that!" It's one of those books that is easy to pick up and read on one of those rainy days.
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