Bad Days in History: A Gleefully Grim Chronicle of Misfortune, Mayhem, and Misery for Every Day of the Year - Hardcover

Michael Farquhar, a former writer and editor at The Washington Post, is the bestselling author of numerous books, including the critically acclaimed Behind the Palace Doors and Secret Lives of the Tsars, as well as the popular Penguin "Treasury" series: A Treasury of Royal Scandals, A Treasury of Great American Scandals, A Treasury of Deception, and A Treasury of Foolishly Forgotten  Americans. He lives in Washington, D.C.

An aficionado of misfortune, Farquhar blithely notes something woeful for each day of the calendar. Whether these daily highlights of difficult times are the handiwork of Mother Nature, malicious despots, mysterious dastards or some feckless nincompoops, it's a tough year, to be sure.....
The facts of this passing parade of perfidious knaves, nasty poltroons, incompetent liars and just some unlucky folk who slipped on bygone banana peels make for leisurely reading--and it's surely a story to be continued.

Candid snapshots of some truly bad days in the bleak annals of civilization.
--Kirkus

Farquhar has proven with other books such as "A Treasury of Royal Scandals" and "Behind the Palace Doors" that he can deliver fun compilations of historical tidbits. "Bad Days in History" solidifies his reputation.
--Roanoke Times

Mr. Farquhar's latest, "Bad Days in History," may offer consolation to the great mass of quotidian belly-achers....whose piddling misfortunes and regrets will snap neatly into perspective when set against the record of idiocy and disaster he has assembled.
--Wall Street Journal

Bad Days in History is a wonderful morbid and entertaining collection.
--Portland Book Review

"The facts of this passing parade of perfidious knaves, nasty poltroons, incompetent liars and just some unlucky folk who slipped on bygone banana peels make for leisurely reading—and it's surely a story to be continued." --Kirkus Reviews

"A catalog of historical anecdotes in which the historical agents experienced very bad days indeed."
--Library Journal