{"product_id":"the-pessimists-guide-to-history-doris-flexner-9780061431012","title":"The Pessimist's Guide to History 3e: An Irresistible Compendium of Catastrophes, Barbarities, Massacres, and Mayhem--From 14 Billion Years Ago to 2007","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe classic irreverent look at the past--now updated with even more appalling facts \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFourteen 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e88 BC: Mithridates VI Eupator provides an early example of genocide by massacring 100,000 Romans.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e1347: Saint Vitus' Dance Epidemic shimmies across Europe like a deadly disco fever, leaving its victims twitching, uncontrollably leaping, and foaming at the mouth.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e1888: Jack the Ripper stalks through the dark alleys of Whitechapel, England, turning the world's oldest profession into the world's most dangerous one.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e1939: A Swiss chemist wins a Nobel Prize for developing DDT--and the environment gets another nail in the coffin.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e2005: Hurricane Katrina devastates the Gulf Coast. In a classic double whammy, the government response also devastates the Gulf Coast.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd much, much more \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Doris Flexner, Stuart Berg Flexner\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 006143101X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780061431012\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Harper Perennial\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/01\/2008\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 512\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.83lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.00h x 5.36w x 1.16d","brand":"Doris Flexner","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43988783333631,"sku":"9780061431012","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_94da876b-5c12-40c3-871f-4ae4f53547b4.jpg?v=1683296368","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-pessimists-guide-to-history-doris-flexner-9780061431012","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}