History's Worst Decisions: And the People who Made ThemAllen & Unwin, 2005 - 256 páginas 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 1929-34 in a foolhardy effort to prevent the feared German invasion ... the 1950s thalidomide pharmaceutical disaster that resulted in at least 20,000 babies born with deformities ... the 1989-91 misappropriation of company funds by publishing executive Robert Maxwell, and the collapse of his financial empire ... the Enron scandal of 2000 that brought down a yet larger business empire. Chronicled in these pages are stories of corporate chicanery, poor military decisions, engineering disasters, diplomatic blunders, and other appalling, large-scale mistakes that resulted in ruin and misery for countless innocent bystanders. Here are baleful tales motivated by false hope, anger, greed, pride, lust, and many other instances of erratic human behavior. A selection of approximately 50 disastrous decisions are presented, each grim account summarized in a report of roughly a half-dozen pages and enhanced with sidebars and thumbnail-sized cartoon-style illustrations. Each account opens with its cast of characters, then sets the story's background before reporting the grim details and concluding with the unhappy moral. Here is a page-turner of a book that recounts some of history's most dramatic-but also catastrophic-moments. |
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Página 12
... appear in the Book of Genesis . Greek mythology presents a similar story : Aristophanes tells us that Prometheus created humanity , again from clay , on orders from Zeus , and Minerva breathed life into the clay , then Zeus cut it into ...
... appear in the Book of Genesis . Greek mythology presents a similar story : Aristophanes tells us that Prometheus created humanity , again from clay , on orders from Zeus , and Minerva breathed life into the clay , then Zeus cut it into ...
Página 19
... appear ugly ; but when they are in full bloom and color , they are supremely beautiful . Menippus : Well , Hermes , what does surprise me is this ; that the Achaeans didn't know what a short - lived thing they fought for , and how soon ...
... appear ugly ; but when they are in full bloom and color , they are supremely beautiful . Menippus : Well , Hermes , what does surprise me is this ; that the Achaeans didn't know what a short - lived thing they fought for , and how soon ...
Página 28
... appear to be in power , but normally the men were the real rulers . The young Cleopatra married her younger brother Ptolemy XIII , and the generals confidently expected their power to be secure . This proved to be far from the case ...
... appear to be in power , but normally the men were the real rulers . The young Cleopatra married her younger brother Ptolemy XIII , and the generals confidently expected their power to be secure . This proved to be far from the case ...
Página 29
... appears to have respected and cared for Caesar . The problem , though , was who the next ruler might be . Caesar was replaced by a triumvirate : Octavian , Lepidus , an aging senator , and Marc Antony , a proud general whose oratory ...
... appears to have respected and cared for Caesar . The problem , though , was who the next ruler might be . Caesar was replaced by a triumvirate : Octavian , Lepidus , an aging senator , and Marc Antony , a proud general whose oratory ...
Página 30
... appears to have given it all one more try with Octavian himself , suggesting an alliance under the normal terms . However , it was soon apparent that he had no intention of making any compact with the woman who had seduced his sister's ...
... appears to have given it all one more try with Octavian himself , suggesting an alliance under the normal terms . However , it was soon apparent that he had no intention of making any compact with the woman who had seduced his sister's ...
Índice
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10 | |
14 | |
20 | |
27 | |
32 | |
The First Real Estate Scam | 37 |
Pope Sylvester and the End of the World | 41 |
Disease in the Crimea | 73 |
Mutiny and Beef Fat | 78 |
Thomas Austins Rabbits | 83 |
General Custer and Little Big Horn | 88 |
King Leopold and the Scramble for Africa | 94 |
Nicholas Alexandra and the Mad Monk | 100 |
Ismays Lifeboats | 105 |
The Assassination of Franz Ferdinand | 110 |
Pope Alexander and the Search for Prester John | 45 |
George Podiebrad the Last Bohemian and World Peace | 49 |
Moctezuma and the Returning God | 55 |
The Worst Deal Ever Made | 60 |
Lord North and King George Ills Tea Party | 64 |
Napoleon the March to Russiaand Frankenstein | 68 |
Winston Churchill and the Disaster at Gallipoli | 116 |
Trench Warfare General Haig and the Battle of the Somme | 120 |
Maginots Line | 126 |
The Map of Iraq | 131 |
Stalin and the Great Purge | 136 |
Outras edições - Ver tudo
History's Worst Decisions and the People who Made Them Stephen Weir Pré-visualização indisponível - 2008 |
History's Worst Decisions and the People who Made Them Stephen Weir Pré-visualização indisponível - 2009 |
Palavras e frases frequentes
Afghanistan Africa Agent Orange American anger charity envy appear army Australian battle became British caused century charity envy faith Churchill Cleopatra colonial Custer Damage death DECISIONS died disaster drug Dutch East emperor Enron envy faith gluttony Erik the Red Europe faith gluttony greed famine fight forces Franz Ferdinand French George George Podiebrad Gerald Ratner German gluttony greed hope greed hope lust Haig Hannibal Hannibal's hope lust pride idiocy India Iran island Japanese killed king Lakota land later lifeboats lust pride sloth Maginot Line Maxwell Menelaus million Moctezuma Mossadegh MOTIVATION anger charity Napoleon nations Nauru Nero nuclear Ottoman Empire percent perhaps Podiebrad political pope population Prester John pride sloth Main rabbit Rasputin Ratner region Robert Maxwell Roman Rome Russian Shenton Thomas ship Singapore sloth Main Culprit Soviet Suhrawardy thalidomide took troops tsunami Vitebsk