The Dead Guy Interviews

Saturday, December 29, 2007
I have just finished reading The Dead Guy Interviews: Conversations with 45 of the most accomplished, notorious, and deceased personalities in history by Michael Stusser. What he does is to assume the voice of the interviewee and answer questions (from himself) in that voice and style. Of the few characters that I’ve studied that are included here, he seems to be pretty accurate both in the voice and historical detail.
I think my favorite interview was one of my heroes, George Washington Carver, who was a great inventor in the American South. He created many uses for the peanut and soybean beyond the merely edible. He was also very humble and kind. I enjoyed reading the interview with him a lot.
Some of the more amusing interviews were with some of the despots and crazies in history, including Mao Zedong, Napoleon Bonaparte, Van Gogh, and Mussolini. Other fun interviews were with such characters as Buddha and Sun Tzu. Mr. Stusser is simultaneously irreverent and respectful. Whenever he crosses the line with a character, that character lets him know it. I did notice that he didn’t interview the two characters that would get him into the most trouble, that being Jesus and Mohammad, and probably just as well.
The chapters are short and each starts with a short biography to set the stage. The book is arranged in alphabetical order by last name, so it’s easy to keep track of where you are without a bookmark. I took this book to my mom’s house at Thanksgiving and she picked it up and read it too, and I left it there on accident, so it took me a while to finish it. If you’re interested in reading any of the chapters or hearing an audio interview, you can click on Michael Stusser’s link below. He’s requested to be one of my “friends” and his website is set up to showcase his book. It’s quite entertaining and I highly recommend it.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=172817654