Encyclopedia Idiotica History's Worst Decisions And The People Who Made Them

[back cover] "Those Who Cannot Remember the Past Are Condemned to Repeat it." George Santayana Mankind's past is strewn with mistakes, colossal blunders driven by virtue as often as by vice.Encyclopedia Idioticais a historian's look at such monumental missteps, from Adam and the apple and Hannibal's avalanche to the destruction of the Himalayan rain forest and the billions of dollars wasted on the Y2K scare. Author Steven Weir's eccentric and insightful chronicle introduces us to the people and reveals the motivations behind the most detrimental of dreadful decisions. Consider Churchill's brash overconfidence in World War I's Gallipoli campaign, which took the lives of over 100,000 soldiers and gained the Allied forces virtually nothing. Or Enron, once the world's fastest growing energy company, which is estimated to have defrauded utilitiesand by extension, their customersout of $1.1 billion through an audacious combination of price manipulation and smoke-and-mirrors accounting. We alternately despise and empathize with the ill-fated figures and organizations while their cautionary tales compel us to reflect on our own choices for better or for worse.Encyclopedia Idioticais an engrossing and enlightening collection of the most disastrous histories, lest we forget.Weir, Stephen is the author of 'Encyclopedia Idiotica History's Worst Decisions And The People Who Made Them' with ISBN 9780764159176 and ISBN 0764159178.