A Short History of the World in 50 Failures

The bestselling alternative history series in bite-sized chapters. Thoroughly researched and entertaining. This is history ... but not as you know it.

Explore the failures, mistakes and missed opportunities that shaped history in this new entry in the bestselling series.

From the botched attempt to create a life-extending elixir that produced gunpowder, to the unsuccessful stint in medical school which led to a career in naturalism for Charles Darwin, to the missile detection system malfunction that almost sparked a nuclear war, the course of human history has so often been shaped by failures of all magnitudes.

In fifty bite-sized chapters spanning thousands of years, A Short History of the World in 50 Failures details how the world as we know it has been defined by plans gone awry, opportunities not seized upon and schemes that were always fated to end in catastrophe.

Whether it's the pharaoh Akhenaten's misplaced attempt to found a new religion or Napoleon's doomed invasion of Russia, discover a fascinating collection of outsized tales and historical snafus that created the world as we know it today.

Also available:
A Short History of the World in 50 Conspiracies (9781789299076)
A Short History of the World in 50 Murders (9781789297737)
A Short History of the World in 50 Tyrants (9781789298437)
A Short History of the World in 50 Lies (9781789294606)
A Short History of the World in 50 Places (9781789291971)
A Short History of the World in 50 Animals (9781789292954)
A Short History of the World in 50 Books (9781789294088)