When we talk about George Washington, how many of us think about his dentist, John Greenwood, who crafted four sets of dentures during the first U.S. president’s career. Were it not for Greenwood, Washington may never have been elected as president sporting only one tooth in his mouth. And then there’s Amelia Earhart’s husband (after he proposed six times), publicist G.P. Putnam, who dedicated himself to Earhart’s career, using his connections, finances and skills as a publicist to help her rise to stardom.
In The Who the What and the When, 65 of celebritydom’s unsung sidekicks are celebrated with a one-page bio along with a striking image. What kind of artist would Andy Warhol have been without his influential mother, Julia Warhola? Would Charles Darwin have been credited as the father of evolution instead of his competitor, Alfred Russel, were it not for the public support of botanist and BFF Joseph Dalton Hooker? Would Lolita have survived the flames of fire without Vladimir Nabokov’s wife, Vera Nabokov? Following in the footsteps of The Where the Why and the How: 75 Artists Illustrate Wondrous Mysteries of Science, each 2-page entry is written by a different writer and illustrated by different artist, making this book a fun, pretty and eclectic collection of fascinating mini-bios.