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

by Michael Farquhar

National Geographic and author Michael Farquhar uncover an instance of bad luck, epic misfortune, and unadulterated mayhem tied to every day of the year. From Caligula's blood-soaked end to hotelier Steve Wynn's unfortunate run-in with a priceless Picasso, these 365 tales of misery include lost fortunes (like the would-be Apple investor who pulled out in 1977 and missed out on a $30 billion-dollar windfall), romance gone wrong (like the 16th-century Shah who experimented with an early form of Viagra with empire-changing results), and truly bizarre moments (like the Great Molasses Flood of 1919).

Think you’re having a bad day? Trust us, it gets worse. 

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Humor, Historical, Trivia, Adult, World History

464 pages, ebook

First published April 21, 2015

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me, a bad day is when I pour milk on my cereal, and some of it hits a flake and splashes out on the counter.

My cousin R. had a pretty bad day a few years ago. After spending all morning in a hospital waiting room while her mother had surgery, R. picked up her kids at her mother-in-law's house, then headed home. As she turned onto her street, her youngest threw up in the van. And then, while she was cleaning up that mess, the oldest boy jumped on his skateboard, careened down the driveway, fell, and broke his arm.

You gotta admit - that's a really bad day, although . . . neither I, nor my cousin, (or even her son), have ever thrown up on the Japanese prime minister on national television like George H.W. Bush did on January 8th, 1992.

Nor did either of us have our heads hacked to pieces by an inept executioner, though that's what happened back on May 27th, 1541 to poor Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury.

And, neither of us was unlucky enough to be the NBC programmer, who on November 17, 1968, cut away from one of the most exciting football games in history to air the broadcast premiere of Heidi.

Yes, this book is full of tales of the woe and agony suffered by those who had worse days than anything I'll (hopefully) ever experience. Some daily entries are humorous, many are tragic, and they vary in length from more than a page to a single quote. September 11th, 2001 is represented by one simple cartoon:


by Marshall Ramsey

Whether you read it all at once, or one entry per day, it's a somewhat unusual reading experience that's both sobering, AND entertaining, and a great reminder that, no matter the day, some poor sucker always has it worse than you.

[Heidi Wiechert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael Farquhar has compiled a veritable treasure trove of historical events and organized them by the calendar day upon which they occurred.

"Plucked from all eras of history, and from around the globe, the bad days in this book are intended to amuse, tantalize, and enlighten — without being too predictable." From the introduction.

From ancient Rome to the more modern era, anyone interested in history should find something to enjoy in here.

For example, those who like to learn about doomed romance, may I suggest March 29: "There was nothing particularly special about Yaoya Oshichi, a grocer's daughter living in 17th-century Japan. Indeed, her memory undoubtedly would have been lost to history had it not been for the extraordinary circumstances of her death — a tale of romance so tragic that it enshrined the 16-year-old girl forever in Japanese literature and theater."

Or maybe you want to learn about the publishers of the so-called "Wicked Bible" who faced a committee for their misdeeds on May 8: "Some readers of a 1631 edition of the King James Bible were shocked (or at least pleasantly surprised) when they came across the Seventh Commandment in the Book of Exodus: 'Thou shalt commit adultery.' Then there was the apparent blasphemy found in Deuteronomy, chapter 5: 'The Lord hath shewed us his glory, and his great asse." (The proper word was 'greatnasse'.)

From the amusing to the tragic, there's something for everyone. Each listing is a short version of the event, just a couple of pages. If you want something more in-depth, you'll have to keep looking. However, if you just want a few pages of something interesting to read before bed, this book could fit the bill.

Recommended for history lovers and trivia hounds.

[Janet Newport · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this a fun book that took me forever to read....

One month a day was all I allowed myself.... to make it last. History in bite-sized easy to read bits. And all kinds of history -- from ancient to modern contemporary. I would love to find it in a desk-diary format.

[Lili · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book as part of the Goodreads First Read Program, here is my honest review:

I am full of disappoint! History is pretty freaking huge, I expected lots of excellent ancient and modern trivia bits of badness. Most the of the events are really kinda dumb, sorry, I do not care about when a TV station made a faux pas and aired a movie instead of a baseball game, I could care less that some actor did a thing...I don't care about popculture trivia, I wanted history! I mean there was not even a reference to The Defenestration of Prague, that is a really random historical trivia blip that should have been included for May 23rd.

I am sure some people like the more modern references, but maybe not have the Trojan Horse as your cover...it is a bit misleading.

[Virginia Hume · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tons of fun, very much in the Michael Farquhar style, which I love. It's the kind of book you can have on a coffee table and people will pick it up, look for their birthday, then keep thumbing through it, laughing. Great gift for people who love history and trivia.

[William Schram · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first impression of Bad Days in History is that of Wars lost and terrible things that happened over the history of the human race. The cover seems to have an illustration of the legend of the Trojan Horse. Now I say “legend” since our primary source is the story of The Iliad by Homer. This is despite the fact that there might be corroborating evidence of the existence of a city known as Troy. It doesn’t seem to be in the book, so that is a big plus.

The book is a collection of all the days of the year organized by month. Each day contains a reason to know that particular date. Sometimes it is as simple as a racist man becoming the governor of a state. Other times it might be the systematic destruction of the Tsar’s enemies. The book covers a lot of history, though not all of it is important. Sometimes you get little tidbits of trivia. Do you remember the giant Molasses Flood? This book does, even if you don’t. The book talks about multiple fields of inquiry, from the realm of science to the arena of sports. Some of the things it talks about are pop cultural in nature and of no real value or benefit.

So as I see it, there are two ways to read this book. You could read it cover to cover and learn all different varieties of trivia for each date, or you could search for a birthday or some other special day and find trivia for that. The book is entertaining either way. It isn’t really useful if you want some kind of special specific thing. Take the trivia on my birthday, for instance, February 6th. It covers the first historically recorded market bubble with the Tulip Bubble back in 1637. None of the days are lucky, hence the title.

If you are looking for a serious book on World History, this book isn’t for you. It talks about the times that celebrities or politicians were publicly insulted. Remember Shoe-gate with George W. Bush? I do, and I had forgotten about it until this book came around. I can’t give it a really good score, but there are some interesting tidbits of information I suppose. Thankfully the library had a copy of this book.

[Jill H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Are you having a bad day? I bet it is not as bad as those described in this fun and informative book. It is arranged as a calendar of each day of each month in various years since recorded history and relates a "bad day" for someone for each one. And sometimes they are obscure incidents in history that will give you a chuckle while others are treated seriously such as December 7, 1941 which simply says "A date which will live in infamy". But the majority of entries are humorous ranging from the disastrous opening day of Disneyland in 1955 when nothing worked right to the infamous "fairy photographs" faked by two young girls that fooled even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Light, enjoyable reading.

[Caleb Succo · Rating 3 out of 5]

The minute to minute writing was not my style, but was definitely fun to read one of these “Bad Days in History” every day.

[Ann Keller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book! It really makes history come alive. Ever wonder why Henry VIII was able to have his marriage with Anne of Cleves annulled? Ever heard about Moliere's last role in 1673 or the huge vat of molasses which exploded across an industrial site in Boston in 1919, killing both men and horses?

Most of us have heard about Napoleon's forces being compelled to withdraw from Russia in the dead of winter, but what about the "accomplished" surgeon, John Taylor, who managed to blind two of the world's greatest composers, Bach and Handel? The tale of Jane Grey is a very sad one. Then there is poor Thomas a Kempis, a saintly German monk, who finally passed on in 1471 at the ripe old age of 91. Or did he? when his coffin was opened several years later, scratch marks were found inside the coffin, clear indications that Thomas had been buried alive. Steve Wynn's loud sneeze was so powerful that the Vegas gentlemen inadvertently managed to plunge his elbow into Picasso's 1932 masterpiece, Le Reve. As a result of Wynn's faux pas, Picasso's painting was immediately devalued from $139 million to a puny $54 million.

You will laugh and chuckle, cry and sigh your way through this book as numerous historical delights are brought before you.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. Super fun and interesting - total 'bathroom read' with a lot of fast, short bites that can be read quickly.

I ended up reading this one slowly by choice. Taking the book month-by-month I relished in savoring it, rather than speed reading like I tend to do.

This book was great and included lots of facts I both already knew (history nerd here!) and many that were completely new-to-me (and provided a LOT of excuses to take my nerdery a step further and go off to do more research!)

[SheLove2Read · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars
Definitely not worth the price of 9.99

[Jaime · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant!! You must read & enjoy this book.

Michael Farquhar's Bad Days in History is a collection of dreadful moments, funny accounts, horrific circumstances, hilarious revenges, and so on, and so on.
From the time of the Roman Empire to centuries past to the present times, you just picked any day of the year or month and open this book on that page to see what occurred on that day as a point of reference.
Thinking on keeping this book handy at a party so I can stunned my guests with witty and classical knowledge.
Clever!

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bad Days in History is a fascinating chronicle of everything from pop culture woes to world history nightmares to humorous faux pas through the ages. I thoroughly enjoyed the read that was easy to pick up and put down between other books and activities. Some gruesome moments may be more than faint-hearted readers will want to know, but the book also contained much sarcasm and humor.

[Bec · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this book, it's not really a book you just sit down and read cover to cover. Historical events are given in bite sized pieces. The book jumps around to different periods which some people may not care for but I didn't have a problem with.

[Evelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book. It is a good book to just pick up and read a little, but I pushed through it, because it was on my Kindle. I liked the combination of little-known historical events with monumental events like Pearl Harbor and the 9/11 attacks. Some facts were just not interesting, but most were. I would like to have seen more events from ancient times, but I guess it's not always possible to know the exact month and day of such ancient historical happenings. All in all, a fun read, sometimes not so fun, but history is like that.

[LynnDee (LynnDee's Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael Farquhar is my history bae. That is all.

[Adrienne French · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved reading what terrible event happened each day of the year. A great perspective given our own events in 2021. My only criticism is I wish it had more world history vs. US history.

[NinjaMuse · Rating 3 out of 5]

In brief: One bad historical moment for every day of the year. Some are horrible, some are hilarious, some are outright unexpected.

Thoughts: I’m veering a little off theme for this review, in that I’ve technically been reading this for over a year and have only recently finished it—but I finished Cibola Burn in 2018 too, so I’m counting it. Don’t count my reading speed on this against it, though! Given the format, this was a “pick it up in odd moments” sort of book for me, and I allowed myself to be distracted by other books as well.

I enjoyed it! The writing’s simple and colloquial, the humour’s constant and warm except when it’s sarcastic or relying on schadenfreude, and the facts were, for the most part, unexpected and interesting. Farquhar punches up and calls out awful events and people for what they are, and inserts extra amusing factoids and context pretty often. If you want to learn things without ever going in-depth and just generally broaden your historical knowledge a bit, this is an excellent choice of read.

I do have a slight complaint, though: for all Farquhar pulls from all the continents, a lot of the stories are still Western, white, male, and most of all, American. (Not that Washington politics and sports history aren’t wild, but. Y’know.) Then again, taking the majority of stories from non-Western cultures would be … also fraught. And a smaller complaint? As a connoisseur of weird and amusing history, not every fact was entirely unexpected, though it’s nice to have dates all the same.

So yeah: good book, fun read, interesting and educational, great for picking up as the mood strikes, not quite perfect for me but definitely enjoyable, and already on a rec list.

Warnings: Pretty much all the warnings, but in a pretty non-graphic and undetailed way. If you can’t handle “today, somebody got decapitated by a thing” or “today, Hitler was Hitler,” probably best to give this a miss.

7/10

[Fred Forbes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, not done with it yet. Why? Well I read it a day at a time as that is how it is laid out. Think you are having a bad day? Call up the date in this tome and it will reveal a really bad day at some point in history, many going back thousands of years. Interesting blend of history and humor and an enjoyable read. I don't feel I've jumped the gun since I've been on it for a few months now and a don't expect it to change in approach or content. Interesting and entertaining. Go look up your birthday and see what ugliness transpired in the year he decided to write up.

[Ika · Rating 2 out of 5]

Should be renamed "Bummer Days in American History" since the rest of the world only got a few dozen days out of 365. The handful of interesting stories wasn't worth having to read all the many dull sports anecdotes, Hollywood tabloid quarrels, and founding fathers politics.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

If anyone says history is boring, please give them a copy of this.

[Kirsti · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun book to dip in and out of. It reminds me of those Book of Lists books from the 1980s.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book really should have been titled "Bad Days in American History (with some other countries' history thrown in for fun)". When I received this book (it was a graduation present), I was super excited to learn about some wacky unfortunate but ultimately humorous history from around the world and throughout the eras. I had a history professor who would do a "this day in history" at the start of every class which was my favourite thing ever and I hoped this book would be just as entertaining as those historical tidbits. Instead I got an overwhelming amount of American historical blunders that weren't nearly as entertaining as the author thought they were. Over half the entries in nearly every month were about American history (197 to be exact - yes I counted them) and a significant amount were about politicians who were poor public speakers, TV blunders, and baseball. And far too many of the entries were from the 21st century - I'm only 23, so 2013 is not history to me (also was it really history to Farquhar when he wrote the book in 2015?). It was hard to be entertained reading about bad presidential race predictions when I could have been reading about the creation of the malleus maleficarium or ruthless royals or the ancient world. If I wanted to learn about the Wall Street giant that caused the 2008 crash, I would take a MODERN economics class, just saying.

[Lauren Niday · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book! Unless you get easily frustrated by how long a book might take to read—like myself. So don't take my rating as fact, it's only a reflection of the dissatisfaction of a speed-reader who was forced to slow down to a snail's pace. It just wasn't formatted in a way where I could read it as fast I would like. It took me a week to read this 500 page book, which is possible, of course, but I spent much more time reading in this week than I usually do (once for as long as 3 hours), so I kept getting frustrated.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my "appointment, stuck behind train, waiting on swim lessons" book for the summer.

It's a nice overview of silly errors, tragic events, and poor judgments for the year. It's essentially 365 short stories. I think a slow read is better for this type of book. If I hadn't stretched it out over 2 months and read a bunch of other stuff in-between, I would have tired of the writing style quickly.

As it was, it was an enjoyable book of historical anecdotes.

[Randee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book that I read in spurts. All 365 days of the year are represented by an event characterized by disaster, failure or death. Most are obscure facts I did not know and many are ironic in a gallow’s humor kind of way. Easily read a few days or a month at a time, this will satisfy anyone who loves trivia.

[Stewart Mashburn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read about some of the worst days in history. Can be funny, educational, and sad; but should be read with an open mind as the author's political & personal bias's tend to bleed onto the page which is why I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. This shouldn't come as a shock, Farquhar used to write for the Washington Post which is considered by many to be "deep in left field".

[Michael Von Ville · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, easy read. Nice mix of well-known history as well as some more interesting tidbits about more obscure events. Was cool to see how certain themes tied together throughout the chronology, as well as some of the additional commentary justifying specific selections and their relevance. All things considered, a good book to start the year.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. It's hard to say this was funny when it's all about bad days but it is one of the most entertaining and informative books I have every read. I love trivia and I love history. This is the best of both.

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

He should have stayed with short and humorous. After a while, I figure a good 2/3 of these stories should have been culled out. The premise for every day of the year doesn't hold up when such a small percentage are worth reading.