A Brief History of Vice by Robert Evans

A Brief History of Vice

How Bad Behavior Built Civilization

Robert Evans

Penguin Publishing Group · Print & ebook · August 9, 2016

A celebration of the brave, drunken pioneers who built our civilization one seemingly bad decision at a time, A Brief History of Vice explores a side of the past that mainstream history books prefer to hide.

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Who it’s for
A playful guide to how bad behavior gets woven into civilized life.
Genres
Social History, Humorous History, How Cultures Work
Published
Penguin Publishing Group, August 9, 2016

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About this book

A celebration of the brave, drunken pioneers who built our civilization one seemingly bad decision at a time, A Brief History of Vice explores a side of the past that mainstream history books prefer to hide. History has never been more fun—or more intoxicating. Guns, germs, and steel might have transformed us from hunter-gatherers into modern man, but booze, sex, trash talk, and tripping built our civilization.

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Cracked editor Robert Evans brings his signature dogged research and lively insight to uncover the many and magnificent ways vice has influenced history, from the prostitute-turned-empress who scored a major victory for women’s rights to the beer that helped create—and destroy—South America's first empire. And Evans goes deeper than simply writing about ancient debauchery; he recreates some of history's most enjoyable (and most painful) vices and includes guides so you can follow along at home. You’ll learn how to: • Trip like a Greek philosopher. • Rave like your Stone Age ancestors. • Get drunk like a Sumerian. • Smoke a nose pipe like a pre–Columbian Native American. “Mixing science, humor, and grossly irresponsible self-experimentation, Evans paints a vivid picture of how bad habits built the world we know and love.”—David Wong, author of John Dies at the End

Vice, Explained

A playful guide to how bad behavior gets woven into civilized life.

Come here for

  • history with a wink
  • essay-driven cultural explanations

Expect

  • humor threaded through history
  • insight without the lecture

Where it sits

Social History45%
Humorous History40%
How Cultures Work36%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Civilizations
  • Adult Humor
  • Social Science Essays
Authors
Robert Evans
Publisher
Penguin Publishing Group
Published
August 9, 2016
Format
Print & ebook
Reading lane
Civilizations