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

Ed Strosser (Author), Michael Prince (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 22, 2008

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 and dictatorships, in recent decades just as often as in less "enlightened" times. The ridiculous and reckless conflicts chronicled in Stupid Wars include the misdirected Fourth Crusade, the half-baked invasion of Russia by the U.S., the U.K.'s baffling Falklands War, Hitler's ill-fated Beer Hall Putsch, several incredibly foolish South American conflicts, the Bay of Pigs fiasco, and many more. Whether you're a future dictator, war-mongering politician, royal mistress, or history lover, these blow-by-stupid-blow accounts will teach you the valuable lessons you need to stay off the list, including:

• Don't declare war on all your neighbors at the same time.
• Working radios, accurate maps, and weather-appropriate uniforms are big plusses.
• Large amounts of bird poop and very small islands are probably not worth dying for.
• Never invade Russia.
• Seriously. It's a really bad idea.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School—Strosser and Prince present 16 concise episodes in human history to support their theory that war is generally a bad idea and that we may finally learn from the past by studying martial failures instead of celebrating glorious victories. An irreverent tone and lively writing make this book readable and appealing, although sometimes the flood of names and dates becomes confusing. Unfortunately, there are no maps. Presented in chronological order, the war stories begin in ancient Rome and conclude with the 1991 Soviet coup. Each chapter starts with a short overview, followed by "The Players" (brief, pithy descriptions of the main agents involved in the conflict); the "General Situation" sets the stage for "What Happened," and concludes with "What Happened After" (summary and analysis). Boxed segments feature interesting nuggets of information (thumbnail biographies of individuals or groups, relevant legends). While most of the chapters describe 20th-century events, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 is probably most relevant for making connections to today's headlines. The book assumes some knowledge of history, but it could be used as a reference or supplementary reading for anyone studying American, European, Latin American, or world history. The authors offer excellent, entertaining descriptions of historical figures and events, and provide convincing evidence of the unpredictable, chaotic, and disorganized reality of warfare.—Sondra VanderPloeg, Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

Excellent, entertaining descriptions of historical figures and events…An irreverent tone and lively writing make this book readable and appealing. (School Library Journal )

If you think you know your history, think again.... A remarkable job recalling several of the dumbest ideas that ended up wasting lives, time and treasure. War is sometimes necessary, but it’s never pretty. Now, thanks to Mike and Ed, we have the proof that war is exceedingly stupid. (Jordan Rich, WBZ Boston )

Witty commentary and ironic asides make for entertaining reading…a great gift for Father’s Day. (Armchair General )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (April 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061258474
• ISBN-13: 978-0061258473
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,051,497 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New History Fan, May 3, 2008

By 

Jennifer Mallis (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stupid Wars: A Citizen's Guide to Botched Putsches, Failed Coups, Inane Invasions, and Ridiculous Revolutions (Paperback)

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!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Monty Python Meets the History Channel, May 2, 2008

By 

Peter S. Chase (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stupid Wars: A Citizen's Guide to Botched Putsches, Failed Coups, Inane Invasions, and Ridiculous Revolutions (Paperback)

Monty Python Meets the History Channel!

Manages being a very amusing read while also being informative.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bathroom reader history, February 9, 2011

By 

Hancock the Superb "Chris S." (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stupid Wars: A Citizen's Guide to Botched Putsches, Failed Coups, Inane Invasions, and Ridiculous Revolutions (Paperback)

Well, a book with the word stupid in the title isn't going to be Gibbon or Macauley, so judging it by standards of serious history is pointless. Rather, Stupid Wars should be taken as a bit of light entertainment for history buffs, and it's hard to fault it too much on that score.

Stupid Wars lives up to its title, detailing a number of military conflicts waged either for stupid reasons (the Chaco War between Paraguay and Bolivia) or waged stupidly (the Soviet invasion of Finland, the Bay of Pigs). Some wars are fairly well-known, others forgotten, but all impress with their head-scratching inanity: from Paraguay's suicidal involvement in the War of the Triple Alliance and the ill-conceived Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War, to Romania's fighting a three-way conflict in WWII and the appallingly-staged US invasion of Grenada, a chronicle of military stupidity and headscratching incompetence is engagingly presented.

The authors try to make these stories accessible without getting bogged down in military and political minutiae, a serious danger with such obscure and inscrutable conflicts. They mostly succeed, providing concise, easy-to-understand yet admirably in-depth accounts of the wars, campaigns and putsches covered. Still, there are some irritants, mostly in the writing style. The authors get some funny bits in but much of the humor is extremely juvenile: for the most obvious example, in the chapter on the War of the Pacific they expound repeatedly on the fact that guano = bird excrement. Did Beavis and Butthead write this chapter? Perhaps it's personal taste but I found this childish tone a bit grating in spots.

On the whole though, Stupid Wars isn't bad for a bit of lighthearted light reading. One must add that there are more than enough "stupid wars" unaccounted for to make a half-dozen sequels, so stay tuned.