Oops
20 Life Lessons from the Fiascoes That Shaped America
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
Oops may be the only American cultural history to ever include flaming elephants, government-funded psychics, and a cutting-edge cinematic technology known as "Smell-O-Vision." This chronicle of often overlooked snafus will delight fans of popular culture who appreciate that Americans' failures are as spectacular as their successes: bridges that collapse; flying cars that crash; sports promotions run amok; deodorant that nearly destroyed the earth; even failures that failed to happen!
Veteran journalists Smith and Kiger select twenty miscues, goofs, complications, and failures that shaped modern America and reveal the life lessons these gaffes teach, including:
Accentuate the Positive: How Thomas Edison Invented Trash TalkUnderstand the Market: The 1967 Monkees–Jimi Hendrix Concert TourDesperation Is the Cradle of Bad Ideas: Cleveland Indians' Ten-Cent Beer NightSweatthe Details: The Sixty-Story John Hancock Guillotine
Enriched by handy clip-'n'-save "Recipes for Disaster" (Marinated Myopia, Cooked Goose, False-Alarm Chili), Oops proves that when it comes to failure, truth is stranger than fiction.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Although its composition seems occasionally arbitrary, this addition to the weird history subgenre is as informative as it is entertaining. Smith and Kiger (Poplorica) take 20 of American history's biggest "flops, goofs, misjudgments, and fiascoes" (mainly from the 20th century) and attempt to extract a "meaningful lesson" from each, the latter more difficult than simply telling an embarrassing story. For instance, "Beware Solutions That Create New Problems" profiles Thomas Midgeley, the innovator who added poisonous lead to gasoline and invented ozone-killing CFCs, which made him responsible for more atmospheric damage than any other man in history. Most enjoyable are the chapters on jaw-droppingly ridiculous decisions, such as Jimi Hendrix opening for the Monkees in 1967 or the 1974 Cleveland Indians' 10-cent beer night that turned into one of pro sports' ugliest riots. Some subjects seem more like misguided incidents than fiascoes (e.g., inventors' unending quest for a flying car, the Y2K scare), but there are plenty of corkers, like the hubristic flameout that was the football-wrestling hybrid XFL. A "bonus" chapter crams in other goodies for a nice finish, from the well known (e.g., the CIA's Castro assassination plots) to the obscure (e.g., equine sushi ice cream).
