Napoleon's Hemorrhoids: ... and Other Small Events That Changed History

I love trivia and Phil Mason has done a wonderful job on putting together a clever collection of some of history's little quirks that will leave you amazed, amused and chuckling on what was and almost was. It's a quick read; one for the daily train or bus commute or somewhere where you have a little time to sit back and enjoy it.

Book was satisfying to recipient and others in real time at birthday party. Before actually ordering the book, the "system" implied the book would be delivered 23/24 APR. After ordering of the book, the "system" suggested delivery in MAY. There was no way to regain control and cancel the order even after contacting "Customer Service". Luck of all lucks for me, the book arrived the last day I could use it, 24APR. I am uncomfortable with delivery scheduling as presented by the "system",

americans probably won't enjoy this as much as UK readers. the author is british and some of the book's historical references are mentioned accordingly. short one two or three paragraph tidbits of history are the format here. good for quick reading or for bathroom material, especially for history buffs. i would have given 5 stars but because of the UK context i couldn't enjoy it as much. plus, i would've liked to see sources for some of the information. all in all, not bad. does make you think how history could've been much different if not for TINY sometimes random events that altered certain key dates.

Another reviewer called this a 'bathroom book' and I would agree, except that was not considered praise especially. I love it when you can pick up a book and open it to any given page and get an insight into history. some of the insights are trivia, some are known, some are hard to believe, but most of them were interesting to most members of my household (ages 16 to "old enough to know better") I picked this up thinking it was going to be a few 'novellas' strung together, but enjoyed the fact that it is more like a Guinness Book of World Records type of format. Yeah, you're not using this as a source in your dissertation, but it sure is fun.

Phil Mason's thesis is that "the impression of history we get from our school teachers and our history books is one of logical progression and reason. Things happen for a reason. Big things happen for big reasons. Napoleon's Hemorrhoids explodes this myth. Much of history turns out to be the consequence of small acts of fortune, accident or luck, good or bad." Mason has collected hundreds of examples of small events (many with a British slant) which he argues "determined" the course of future events. He is obviously an advocate of what was once called "The Great Man" theory of history, and it is great fun to think about "what if" in many of his examples. A few of many decisive small events: Napoleon had an attack of haemorrhoids that intervened with his usual battlefield surveillance. Communist jets were two minutes away from opening fire on American planes during the Cuban missile crisis, when they ran too low on fuel. A Canadian blacksmith threw his hammer at a fox and missed, but found a gigantic vein of silver. Charlton Heston was cast as Moses in "The Ten Commandments" because his broken nose made him look like Michelangelo's Einstein's last words were in German; his nurse did not understand German. Winston Churchill might have died on the Western Front in World War I with his orderly during an artillery attack; instead he was ordered to meet with his corps commander three miles away. Fidel Castro failed his tryout with the Washington Senators in 1947. Ronald Reagan's application to become a member of the American Communist Party in 1938 was rejected because his vetters "thought he was a feather brain...a flake who couldn't be trusted with a political opinion for more than 30 minutes." A great deal of speculation is involved, of course; how would things be different if we knew Einstein's last words; how many other near misses did Chruchill (or Hitler for that matter) experience; did great events really turn on such small events? But as a source of gossipy events (did they really happen, the book is short on footnotes), it can be great fun to read and speculate on the events described here. The book is well indexed and divided into ten chapters covering history, politics, chance beginnings, business, the arts and sports, etc. That makes it easy to point to the particular passage when you are challenged for your authority for some outrageous statement you make to a friend or neighbor. Robert C. Ross 2010