Customer Reviews

The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody: Great Figures of History Hilariously Humbled

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This book is so incredibly funny. It is about all sorts of historical figures. Cuppy is an amazing writer. He writes about all the things that they did and makes them seem rather dumb. To truely appreciate this book to it's full value there has to a understanding of what my friend and I call dry humor others might say sarcastic, blunt, intelligent. Whatever you call it, but if that is you and you don't have to love history but read this book it is wonderful.

My high school history teacher (who was no fool and knew his stuff better than some professors I met in college) gave me this book. His copy was the original thing-- almost falling apart from being loved by so many students. It managed to spark an interest in history in me, because quite frankly I have no patience for the "golden sheen" that so many people try to put on historical figures. Who on earth cares about someone who's so perfect you could never talk to them, anyway? Let's face it, the so-called "greats" were people with flaws and quirks just like we are! Bravo to Will Cuppy for having the guts and the skill to portray them in a way that makes us laugh and makes us question a little beyond the almost impenetrable veil of History.

Cuppy was an incredibly gifted humorist, and he brings his flare to history in this masterpiece. Before ever writing a line, he would exhaustively research every reference he could get his hands on, then condense all that information into short, pithy, incisive statements. The focus is on letting the reader get to know the major figures of world history as people, not historical constructs or animated statues as they often come across in the average history book. The result is a lot of fun information in a concise, ironic format (and be sure to read the footnotes too). Some brief excerpts from the chapter on Nero, for example:

"Nero was the son of Agrippina the Younger and Cnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, combining the worst features of each. His father was fond of running down little children with his chariot and gouging out people's eyes, and there were rumors I'd rather not mention. Agrippina was a sister of Caligula. You don't get over a thing like that...

"In some respects Nero was ahead of his time. He boiled his drinking water to remove the impurities and cooled it with unsanitary ice to put them back again. He renamed the month of April after himself, calling it Neroneus, but the idea never caught on because April is not Neroneus and there is no use pretending that it is. During his reign of fourteen years, the outlying provinces are said to have prospered. They were farther away."

This book was a serendipitous find years ago, and I reread it every now and then to keep it fresh in mind. Of Cuppy's handful of published works, this is the best.

When I was in college, on vacation, I ran into a new paperback of "Decline." I loved it. It was the first book I ever read where I looked forward to reading the footnotes.

As others have observed, the book is a series of essays of historic figures, but all observed from a humorous perspective. Starting to read any essay makes most hooked, and they just have to read another and another until the book is mostly devoured. Others have taken an iconoclastic view of historic figures, but this adds humor that makes it memorable.

My favorite footnote of the entire book concerns Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great. After pointing out that his wife, Olympias, had a thing for snakes, Cuppy notes, "Having real snakes at home does an alcoholic no good. It just complicates matters." Fantastic!

Will Cuppy has written a number of books, but this is a high point. Anyone who wants to gain a good perspective of historic figures as being human, this is a good introduction.

I have given many copies to friends as presents. Nodody who got one was disappointed.

It is the funniest History lesson one can ever hope to get. I wish I had Cuppy as my high school teacher. My brother and I would not have skipped school to hang out in the railroad station. From Pericles to Attila the Hun to Charlemagne to Nero to the Sun King all reduced to ordinary average Joe, making a living as an emperor, conqueror or just your garden variety Pope of the Dark Age. Every sentence is dripping with irony, sarcasm and is laugh out loud funny. I read it while flying 30,000 feet cross country and could not control myself laughing and my wife disowned me while deplaning.

Just go buy this book. No need to thank me.

I have an original copy of the 1963 printing of Will Cuppy's The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody. Cuppy was a hilliarious writer. To do good comedy one has to take it seriously and Cuppy takes his history seriously, but I can't read his history without chuckling. His footnotes add to the humorous text. In this book he lampoons the various characters we learned about in highschool including Hannibal, Cleopatra, Columbus and Montezuma just to name a few. Will Cuppy makes one interested in what used to be just dull dates and factoids. Go for this one, you won't be disappointed.

I bought this book at a book fair in 1954 for twenty-five cents. Best quarter I ever spent! I still have the book, and reread it now and then. It is still funny after all these years. Wouldn't think of parting with it. I liked it so much I couldn't help writing a sequel to it. My version is called Mostly Rapscallions: Salient Sillies About the Rich and Infamous in History

Cuppy belongs in a category all to himself. This book is a unique blend of history, biography, and humor that he perfected. The history and biography are valid and the humor is funny. You can laugh and learn at the same time. Cuppy researched this book for more than fifteen years. It is solidly fact-based. I have been reading and rereading his books for years and am hard pressed to find any errors in them. Even his most outlandish claims usually contain a grain of truth.

And his books are funny! He was a great humorist and just about everybody agrees that this is his masterpiece. I do not agree with those who claim it is outdated. It will never be outdated. If I had a family Bible, this book would be next to it on my book shelf. To me, Cuppy was more than a great humorist; he was a kindred spirit.

Something for everyone from streetwise to suede patched elbows.
Whodathunk? Pithy LOL footnotes? It is a valuable lesson on how one has to be disciplined before breaking away from conventional frameworks.
You'll laugh at the first footnote thinking you perhaps misread it
or surmise in awe of the incredible double entendre within the intellectual capacity of the latter day bard named Will.

This is the first book about which I've felt compelled to write a review, which means that I loved it! I came across an old hardback copy in a local bookstore as I was looking for worthwhile history books for my trivia whiz daughter to study. Within a minute I was laughing out loud (Christopher Columbus was the page I flipped it open to) and disturbing the other bookstore customers. My first thought was, "I didn't think that anyone from the 50s had a sense of humor, or at least one that i can appreciate!" I love the footnotes; Mr Cuppy obviously spent some time on this tome. My only complaint: I wish it were 5 times as thick with information. To that end I am now going to look for more Will Cuppy books. Any recommendations?

This book is historically accurate, funny, satirical, informative, entertaining - in a single word "wonderful." It has been an inspiration to me. When I found out that there was no more Willy Cuppy I was so disappointed that I started my own series on Famous Folks. I have entitled my book Noble Notes on Famous Folks. Noble Notes on Famous Folks
Obviously I loved the idea and the style of Willy Cuppy. Of course Will is much smarter than I am, but hopefully I can make up for my inadequacy in other ways.
Willy inspires me to sit down and start writing as does Robert Service and Mark Twain.
You can't miss with anything by Willy Cuppy - this is probably his most well known publication.

Richard Edward Noble - The Hobo Philosopher - Author of:

"Hobo-ing America: A Workingman's Tour of the U.S.A.."