The Lowbrow Guide To World History :

History - long ennobled as the privileged domain of lofty scholars and erudite minds - really just boils down to four things if you think about it. Who killed who, who conquered who, who slept with who, and in what order. Humanity's story, properly told, is every bit as bawdy as a sailor's yarn, as juicy as a Mills & Boon, as real and relevant as a night on the town with your drinking buddies. Problem is, it's usually told by Ivory Tower academics and droning documentarians. The Lowbrow Guide to World History is here to set the record straight, summing up our sordid past in terms we can all understand. Posing questions real people would ask - could Christopher Columbus even navigate his way out of a paper bag? What was so terrible about Ivan? Which of Henry Vill's wives was the most beddable? Who was crazier, Caligula or Nero? - author Michael Powell gets to the bottom of legendary figures' motivations and methods and shows why we should still be interested in them today. Witty? Irreverent? Non-traditional? Even raunchy and sophomoric? Thankfully, yes! The Lowbrow Guide to World History reminds us how much we can learn when we remember not to take ourselves too seriously.