How things were not

The prologue explains all. From Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Marc Antony, Marie Antoinette (even Alice of wonderland fame), with Picasso, Peggy Guggenheim, Agatha Christie, Hemingway and Patricia Highsmith thrown into the stew, we think the reader will find something new. As for fellow devotees of the movie, Casablanca, the author begs indulgence