In the seventy thousand years that modern human beings have walked this earth, we’ve come a long way. Art, science, culture, trade – on the evolutionary food chain, we’re real winners. But, frankly, it’s not exactly been plain sailing, and sometimes – just occasionally – we’ve managed to really, truly, quite unbelievably f*ck things up.

From Chairman Mao’s Four Pests Campaign, to the American Dustbowl; from the Austrian army attacking itself one drunken night, to the world’s leading superpower electing a reality TV mogul as President… it’s pretty safe to say that, as a species, we haven’t exactly grown wiser with age.

So, next time you think you’ve really f*cked up, this book will remind you: it could be so much worse…

FURTHER PRAISE FOR HUMANS:
‘A light-touch history of moments when humans have got it spectacularly wrong… Both readable and entertaining’ The Telegraph
‘Chronicles humanity’s myriad follies down the ages with malicious glee and much wit … a rib-tickling page-turner’ Business Standard
‘A timely, irreverent gallop through thousands of years of human stupidity’ Nicholas Griffin, Ping-Pong Diplomacy: The Secret History Behind the Game That Changed the World