A Short History of the World in 50 Failures

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Explore the failures, mistakes, and missed opportunities that shaped history. 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 often been shaped by failures of all magnitudes. In fifty bite-sized chapters spanning thousands of years, this book details how the world 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.