Stupid Wars: A Citizen's Guide to Botched Putsches, Failed Coups, Inane Invasions, and Ridiculous Revolutions

by Ed Strosser, Michael Price, Michael Prince

Book Overview

When winners write history, they sometimes forget to include their own embarrassing misjudgments. Fortunately, this take-no-prisoners edition of history isn't going to let the winners (or the losers) forget the mistakes of the past. Be prepared to laugh out loud--and gasp in horror--at the most painfully idiotic strategies, alliances, and decisions the world has ever known. These stupid wars have been launched by democracies as well as monarchies...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0061258474
• ISBN13: 9780061258473
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 2.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.6" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

For everyone who hates history

Start with this book! It seems like most history classes below the college 300 level are designed to make history so painful and unpleasant that noone will look at another history course. This is, at best, tragic, and worst educational malpractice. So the common criticism is that history is boring... The folks who take themselves ever so seriously and have Causes (note the capital 'C'), hiss that history is bourgeois and written by imperialist, colonialist, capitolist running dogs who would be worse than hellspawn if they believed in hell. This is an adolescent and pretentious position to take, but also remarkably short-sighted. So history is often considered a evil, nasty story written by those foul winners... This book is a highly entertaining history of screw-ups. From the late Roman empire to the coup against Gorbie, this book has sixteen stories of how not to do it, with examples at the tactical, operational, strategic and grand strategic levels of war. The cases focus mostly on poor judgment at the higher levels (generals and heads of state rather than lieutenants and sergeants) and presents them in a historically accurate (but not always precise) fashion that is utterly unlike what you heard in high school or in the 100 level history classses. I especially enjoyed the chapters on the War of the Triple Alliance and the Chaco War. These represented extreme cases of the insane excesses heads of state can get up to when they place machismo ahead of reason. And they are portrayed in exactly this light. No heroism, just murderous posturing by penny-ante dictators of third world countries. The authors are cavalier in their descriptions of the actors and their decision processes, and this won't sit well with folks who take their historical knowledge too seriously. But if the goal is to entertain, give alternate interpretations of the facts, and make history more engaging and accessible, you'll have to accept the jocularity and take the flippancy in stride. And it is worth it. Entertaining, informative, engaging, and great fun. This is the book to give the highschooler who 'hates' history. E. M. Van Court

Hilarious and Informative

I was very intrigued when I found this book in the history section at Borers. I really didn't know what to expect. But as soon as I started reading it, I was hooked. I'm a history major myself and training to become an officer in Military Intelligence, and even I sometimes just have to roll my eyes at the lack of life in those history textbooks. If they were written like "Stupid Wars," I think you might have a lot more interest in history. The premise was appealing to me. Rather than look at the heroic victories of the past, we could probably learn just as much if not more from the epic failures of military leaders throughout time. But the most striking thing about the book is not only that it covers wars that I had almost no knowledge of prior to, but it's a funny read as well. For instance, I found myself laughing at the part when the authors recount the little-known Winter War between Russia and Finland. After the the last negotiations ended before the war started, Stalin "left to twirl his mustasche and plan the destruction of their country." At another point, one of the crazier characters of the book, Francisco Lopez "Compared himself to Napoleon and Alexander the Great. It would have been true if Napoleon and Alexander had been fat, ignorant failures from obscure countries." The book is rife with such examples of making fun of blundering, idiotic leaders from the Roman Empire to modern times. Another great thing about the book was that it peaked my interest in various conflicts that I wasn't familiar with beforehand. Since reading the book, I've picked up books on the Russio-Finish War and the Chaco War in South America.

New History Fan

I have attempted to read many history books but I found most of them boring. Stupid Wars grabbed my attention from the beginning to the end. I found myself laughing out loud many times!! I highly recommend this enjoyable book to everyone to share in the hysterical historical discoveries of our past as beautifully executed by Michael and Ed. Keep laughing!

Monty Python Meets the History Channel

Monty Python Meets the History Channel! Manages being a very amusing read while also being informative.

A must read for anyone into history, politics, humor or humanity in general

This book is entertaining and informative from start to finish. It starts strong and just gets better and better as the stories and centuries pass. For anyone that keeps abreast of politics and world affairs it will come as no surprise that much of what our leaders have us do makes little or no sense, but what stands out here is the fact that the more things change, the more they stay the same. The stories told in this fine work seem impossible to have really happened, but they did. I consider this book to be more humor than history, but it is in fact both. Tragic irony at its best. The laughter only stops when you consider how many thousands of people suffered or died for no logical reason, or due to an inconceivable lack of planning. Some of history's most revered public figures are exposed as more egomaniacal, blindly confident, or just plain idiotic than their reputation would indicate. As the previous reviewer said, even the great George Washington was guilty of transgressions that, as brought to light here, must make his wooden teeth chatter in his grave. The world has always, is always, and probably will always be riddled with tragedy and inequity. Boy does this book show it. Maybe it should be required reading for aspiring politicos.