Mavericks: Lessons from History’s Most Extraordinary Misfits

Witty and engaging TikTok historian J Draper digs out unusual stories of individuals who have shaped the world, uncovering the lessons their unique experiences can teach us. Breaking away from history told through the lens of kings, queens, and nobles, this book instead lifts the lid on 24 fascinating stories of little-known underdogs, mavericks, trailblazers, and oddballs.

Through these stories, you will meet characters such as Sabrina Sidney, an orphan kidnapped into a bizarre child-raising experiment; Eleanor Rykener, a gender-bending sex worker from medieval England who spilled juicy gossip about her clients in the clergy; Peter the Wild Boy, a child found living in the woods in Germany who was brought to the royal court in England; Ellen and William Craft, a couple who escaped slavery in the US by disguising Ellen as a white man; and William Buckland, the man who wrote the first account of a dinosaur, yet also ate his way through the animal kingdom.

These poignant and often hilarious true stories show us that the world as we know it was built by a far wider array of historical figures than those we encountered in our schoolbooks.