The Pessimist’s Guide to History 3e: An Irresistible Compendium of Catastrophes, Barbarities, Massacres, and Mayhem―from 14 Billion Years Ago to 2007 by Doris Flexner (PDF)

Description

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!

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: About the Author Stuart Flexner and Doris Flexner are popular reference historians. Doris Flexner, who did all the updates on this book, is also the author of The Optimist’s Guide to History. She lives in Chapel Hill, NC.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐It was in great shape and arrived promptly!

⭐Flexner and Flexner obviously did some painstaking research to complete this book. (What I have found to be true in my own writing and others’ writing is that thorough research makes the difference between adequate writing and outstanding writing). When you begin to read this book, it just seems like one damn disaster after another; then you start to see how history repeats itself, ie, Vlad Dracula and Adolph Hitler, both bloodthirsty tyrants who wanted to wipe out all real or perceived opposition at all costs. Then you get to the years in the book that passed since you were born, and you think, “How did I forget that?” The book puts a lot of things in perspective. It is generally ironic, with bits of wit and wry side notes that keep it moving at a good pace. The individual entries are generally short, so it makes good reading if you are taking the train or subway to work (or if you want to keep it in your bathroom). I would highly recommend this book to ANYONE.

⭐One of my favorite books ever! I love just picking this book up and reading in the middle of the book some terrible event that happened during a certain point in time. Good as a “take someplace to wait” book because you don’t have to focus on a story line or plot and each bit is about 1/2 page in length, sometimes shorter or longer. If I want to learn more about the event then I can look it up on the internet to find out. One thing that I learned about was the Big Molasses Flood in Boston in 1919. Who would have thought that this was something that actually happened?!? Hope there are a lot more readers out there who will pick up this book because of my review!!!!

⭐The book is a fast Kindle read and accurate. My complaints are the pithy one liners. Are they supposed to be funny? On a book about the worst of history’s disasters??? They’re not funny and seem more like dad jokes.

⭐I literally wore out my soft-cover edition of this nook, so I downloaded the updated version. Well worth it!

⭐The writer put together a list of horrifying events but it lacks LUSTER because there are NO ILLUSTRATIONS. It reads and views like a text book.

⭐Bought this version after I lost my old 80s copy three years ago, and still love it today. This book needs to be taught in High School. Very accurate timeline of Earth’s worst events. If you are a history buff, this is a great book to read with a friend!

⭐Hysterical. People have given me weird looks for reading this in public though.You should know that this book is made up of paragraph or slightly longer entries. It can make for choppy reading but if you’re slightly macabre then you’ll enjoy it. Also, there are some typos sprinkled throughout the book which is a bjt aggravating.

⭐Interesting but only if taken in small doses.

⭐Perfect book with quick paragraphs about history

⭐Alright for fun light reading. I did have a huge problem with the use of the word “History” in title. The tenth article list the Plagues of Egypt. This is not history. Not even close. Simply a made up story in a fantastical superstitious book that has amazingly bad track record. Please leave out folklore in your “history” book. That left a sour taste for a while.

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