History's Worst Decisions: And the People who Made ThemAllen & Unwin, 2005 - 256 pàgines 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. |
Des de l'interior del llibre
Resultats 1 - 5 de 7.
Pàgina 10
... later - unknown ) Damage Done : Original Sin Why : The essential folly of humankind starts here with the original humans Of man's first disobedience , and the fruit Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste Brought Death into the world ...
... later - unknown ) Damage Done : Original Sin Why : The essential folly of humankind starts here with the original humans Of man's first disobedience , and the fruit Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste Brought Death into the world ...
Pàgina 15
... later Greek bards and historians were describing events that at least in part took place , as the archaeological evidence proves . Homer wrote The Iliad some five centuries after the fact . It would hardly be surpris- ing that he would ...
... later Greek bards and historians were describing events that at least in part took place , as the archaeological evidence proves . Homer wrote The Iliad some five centuries after the fact . It would hardly be surpris- ing that he would ...
Pàgina 18
... later the excavations had produced more than 8,000 objects and what Schliemann at least felt to be proof positive that the Trojan War had really happened , while many since - and still do - dispute exactly what was found . The city he ...
... later the excavations had produced more than 8,000 objects and what Schliemann at least felt to be proof positive that the Trojan War had really happened , while many since - and still do - dispute exactly what was found . The city he ...
Pàgina 22
... later they ran into another ambush . Hannibal protected what he considered his most important assets - the baggage train - simply by putting his infantry out in front , and lost many men . But that turned out to be the easy part . It is ...
... later they ran into another ambush . Hannibal protected what he considered his most important assets - the baggage train - simply by putting his infantry out in front , and lost many men . But that turned out to be the easy part . It is ...
Pàgina 24
... later centuries witches used to be held accountable and burned for avalanches . Annually there are enormous and deadly avalanches in the region that make international headlines . It doesn't take much to set off an Alpine avalanche and ...
... later centuries witches used to be held accountable and burned for avalanches . Annually there are enormous and deadly avalanches in the region that make international headlines . It doesn't take much to set off an Alpine avalanche and ...
Continguts
9 | |
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 |
Altres edicions - Mostra-ho tot
History's Worst Decisions and the People who Made Them Stephen Weir Previsualització no disponible - 2008 |
History's Worst Decisions and the People who Made Them Stephen Weir Previsualització no disponible - 2009 |
Frases i termes més freqüents
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