History's Worst Decisions and the People Who Made Them, Illustrated Edition

by Stephen Weir

Book Overview

The 64 A.D. burning of Rome during the reign of Nero . . . Winston Churchill's ill-conceived and disastrous World War I plan to invade Turkey at Gallipoli . . . the Maginot Line, built in France in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1435111745
• ISBN13: 9781435111745
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: Metro Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A fun romp through some horrible history

This is an absolutely fascinating book. A lot of history books are written for people who are obsessed with history, which I'm not. I like the storytelling aspect of history, but I get very bored very quickly when authors start talking dates. However, these short (four to five page) vignettes manage to both entertain and enlighten. Everyone knows the story of Rasputin, but I had no idea he belonged to a creepy cult that thought the best way to get to know God was to sin and then repent. Wacky. The textbooks cover the colonization and exploitation of Africa... they skip the man whose insecurity wiped out half the Congo and set off the rush to claim land. These are the creepiest, greediest, sickest, and stupidest examples of human leaders, all lined up for the reader's enjoyment. The text is sarcastic enough to keep me entertained and the stories require only a basic understanding of history in order to follow along. Honestly, if you don't know about WWI or where to find the Middle East, you're not going to want to pick up any history book, not even one as entertaining as this one. As long as you have an understanding of basic history, you'll enjoy this one. The only sticking point that might bother some people is that people such as Adam and Eve (religion) and Menalaus (mythology) are treated exactly the same as more modern historical figures like Winston Churchill and Union Carbide

Interesting, entertaining and informative

I actually learned a lot from this book. Not only that, I also found this book to be very entertaining. Every story is very short, only about 3 pages in average, and very straight to the point, so it's not boring at all. It's also interesting that the book sees the history from different aspects. For example, the first story came from the bible, about Adam and Eve, who made it to this book as the earliest worst decision that changed the fate of mankind.

Entertaining look at history

This book provides a concise and entertaining look at some of the most idiotic decisions throughout (mostly Western) history. Whether you agree with the author's choices or not, he has written an easy to read book that is both funny and informative. He had tried to put each of the decision into their historical context with a brief background to the decisions made; finding that in many cases it 'seemed like a good idea at the time'. The only downside to it is that there are a number of historical inaccuracies in the detail. This is unfortunate, as better editing would have picked these anomolies up, even by a layman. Overall though, well worth the read.

Mad monks, maginot and more

Big mistakes of the past come to life under author Stephen Weir's close inspection in the scholarly yet lively ENCYCLOPEDIA IDIOTICA: HISTORY'S WORST DECISIONS AND THE PEOPLE WHO MADE THEM. Here are exposes of mad monks, desperate Indian encounters of the faulty kind, Maginot's famous line, the Bhopal chemical disaster when cost-cutting led to death, and more; from original idiots Adam and Eve right into modern times. Expect a lively tone which lends to easy reading, and a fine survey of arguments on historical fact and effect which often are charted right into modern times.

Witty and Informative

The best aspect of this book is its dry wit, and entertaining and informative perspective on history. The 50 vignettes in this book each describe one of history's most dangerously boneheaded moments. Teachers of history, debate coaches, and many others should take note: you could well assign these as topics. Whether or not you agree with Mr. Weir, these morsels should kick-start some truly entertaining and thought-provoking discussions. And what an encouragement to further reading and research!