The Pessimist's Guide to History 3e: An Irresistible Compendium of Catastrophes, Barbarities, Massacres, and Mayhem--From 14 Billion Years Ago to 2007

by Flexner, Doris
5 out of 5 Customer Rating
ISBN: 9780061431012
Availability:
$7.99
Used - Trade Paperback - 9780061431012

Available Offers

Overview

The classic irreverent look at the past--now updated with even more appalling facts

Fourteen billion or so years ago, the Big Bang exploded--and it's been downhill from there. For every spectacular discovery throughout history, there have been hundreds of devastating epidemics; for every benevolent despot, a thousand like Vlad the Impaler; for every cup half-full, a larger cup half-empty. This enthralling, enlightening, and devilishly entertaining chronicle of disasters and dastardly deeds brings to light the darkest events in history and the most abysmal calamities to strike the planet . . . so far.

88 BC: Mithridates VI Eupator provides an early example of genocide by massacring 100,000 Romans.

1347: Saint Vitus' Dance Epidemic shimmies across Europe like a deadly disco fever, leaving its victims twitching, uncontrollably leaping, and foaming at the mouth.

1888: Jack the Ripper stalks through the dark alleys of Whitechapel, England, turning the world's oldest profession into the world's most dangerous one.

1939: A Swiss chemist wins a Nobel Prize for developing DDT--and the environment gets another nail in the coffin.

2005: Hurricane Katrina devastates the Gulf Coast. In a classic double whammy, the government response also devastates the Gulf Coast.

And much, much more

  • Format: TradePaperback
  • Author: Flexner, Doris
  • ISBN: 9780061431012
  • Condition: Used
  • Dimensions: 8.00 x 1.16
  • Number Of Pages: 512
  • Publication Year: 2008

Customer Reviews