“Michael Stusser’s ingenious ability to bring historical figures to life falls somewhere between brilliant writing and method acting. Or perhaps even necrophilia. Who knows. Point is, The Dead Guy Interviews is both wildly educational (yes, it’s possible) and wickedly entertaining.”
—Neely Harris, Editor-in-Chief mental_floss magazine
Music
In The Dead Guy Interviews, you’ll get dating tips from Henry the VIIIth, a palm reading from Confucius, some couch time with Freud, the real scoop on where Amelia Earhart landed, and if George Washington actually inhaled.
Participants include: Alexander the Great, Ludwig van Beethoven, Napoleon Bonaparte, the Buddha, Michelangelo, Julius Caesar, Caligula, George Washington Carver, Catherine the Great, Coco Chanel, Winston Churchill, Cleopatra, Confucius, Crazy Horse, Salvador Dalí, Charles Darwin, Leonardo da Vinci, Emily Dickinson, Isadora Duncan, Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Sigmund Freud, Henry VIII, J. Edgar Hoover, Harry Houdini, Thomas Jefferson, Joan of Arc, Robert Johnson, Frida Kahlo, Genghis Khan, Abraham Lincoln, Mao Tse-Tung, Karl Marx, Montezuma, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Benito Mussolini, Nostradamus, Edgar Allen Poe, William Shakespeare, Sun Tzu, Vincent van Gogh, George Washington, Mae West, and Oscar Wilde.
Television
The concept of the "Dead Guy Interviews" came out of one living guy’s desire to "talk" with fascinating historical figures who, in addition to being dead, weren't giving out interviews during their lifetimes - sometimes due to difficult surroundings (Montezuma, Helen Keller), or just because they had lousy PR agents (Mussolini, Caligula, etc.). In depth, knock-down, drag out, tête-à-têtes with Lincoln, da Vinci, Genghis Khan (no relation to Chaka, apparently), Cleopatra, and a whole host of famous dead guys (and gals) throughout history. Edutainment, you'd call it, but with a little theatre and pop-off pop-culture thrown in for good measure. It's how we get away with asking Alexander the Great who he’d have preferred play him in the movie, Hoover's take on the cross-dressing, and Catherine the Great about her sex life. (For the record, she insists, “I did not, have, sex, with that horse.”)
Books
The interviews are historical, hysterical, and great conversational fodder. If you ever wondered what it would be like to have dinner with anyone in history - now you’ll know…
About me:
Ever wanted to ask Van Gogh about the whole ear episode or Beethoven for his take on “American Idol”? How about Napoleon about his complex, or if Frida might consider a brow wax? Here’s your chance!
In The Dead Guy Interviews (Oct. 2007, Penguin Group USA), modern-day journalist Michael Stusser chats with the most famous personalities of all-time, asking them probing and illuminating questions about their lives, accomplishments, and what’s on their iPods.
www.michaelstusser.com
"Michael Stusser's The Dead Guy Interviews is a funny, educational way to get to know almost fifty of history's late greats. Finally, a way to talk to the dead without all that tedious messing around with seances or grave robbery!"
--Ken Jennings, Jeopardy genius and author of Brainiac.
Ha Ha Michael, I just got the email and your article My Bailout: Stimulate This Package! was a hoot. We need more like you to help us laugh during these trying times. I will think of you in the laundry room doing your best work. Ha Ha I needed that today. I surely did. Liquid Metropolis
Thanks for adding us!! Wow we have something in common...we talk to dead people...but yours always seem to answer. Keep up the good work. www. m-and-m-investigators. com
