The Pessimist's Guide to History 3e

<blockquote><p>The classic irreverent look at the past—now updated with even more appalling facts!</p></blockquote><p>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.</p><p>88 BC: Mithridates VI Eupator provides an early example of genocide by massacring 100,000 Romans.</p><p>1347: Saint Vitus'' Dance Epidemic shimmies across Europe like a deadly disco fever, leaving its victims twitching, uncontrollably leaping, and foaming at the mouth.</p><p>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.</p><p>1939: A Swiss chemist wins a Nobel Prize for developing DDT—and the environment gets another nail in the coffin.</p><p>2005: Hurricane Katrina devastates the Gulf Coast. In a classic double whammy, the government response also devastates the Gulf Coast.</p><p>And much, much more!</p>