Michael Powell (3) (1966–)

That it is no longer readily available and that no photos of the US cover appear on line demonstrates that I am not alone in finding this book less than adequate. Powell can't decide whether this is to be fact-based humor (e.g., humorous or bizarre true facts) or a parody of history (e.g., amusing lies). The result is an uneasy and not particularly entertaining mix of too little of each, made more distasteful by strained attempts at sexual jocularity that just make me wince with embarrassment for the author. In addition, some of the entries contain factual errors that appear to be--well, factual errors, not errors made deliberately for humorous effect. For example, he refers in separate entries to psychoactive mushrooms and cocaine respectively as "amphetamines"; amphetamine is a stimulant, but not all stimulants are amphetamines. Powell gets one thing right, though unwittingly: With only a few exceptions, this "world history" is a US/British/Western European history, just like a lot of "world" history texts. Hah. Good one.… (mer)