• When Hitler Took Cocaine and Lenin Lost His Brain

  • History's Unknown Chapters
  • By: Giles Milton
  • Narrated by: Giles Milton
  • Length: 4 hrs and 53 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (322 ratings)

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When Hitler Took Cocaine and Lenin Lost His Brain  By  cover art

When Hitler Took Cocaine and Lenin Lost His Brain

By: Giles Milton
Narrated by: Giles Milton
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Publisher's summary

Obscure and addictive true tales from history told by one of our most entertaining historians, Giles Milton

This program is read by the author, the host of the popular podcast, Unknown History with Giles Milton.

The first installment in Giles Milton's outrageously entertaining series, History's Unknown Chapters: colorful and accessible, intelligent and illuminating, Milton shows his customary historical flair as he delves into the little-known stories from the past.

There's the cook aboard the Titanic, who pickled himself with whiskey and survived in the icy seas where most everyone else died. There's the man who survived the atomic bomb in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And there's many, many more.

Covering everything from adventure, war, murder and slavery to espionage, including the stories of the female Robinson Crusoe, Hitler's final hours, Japan's deadly balloon bomb and the emperor of the United States, these tales deserve to be told.

©2015 Giles Milton (P)2016 Macmillan Audio
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic reviews

“If you get a kick out of odd historical trivia like that, you’ll devour “When Hitler Took Cocaine and Lenin Lost His Brain,” the first installment in Giles Milton’s new “History’s Unknown Chapters” series. Packed with 50 stories your social studies teacher probably skipped, the book sports a wandering eye and witty voice that make for diverting winter reading.”—The Washington Post

"A list of insurance claims taken out on pets drowned with the Titanic. A legend detailing the various forms of Chinese castrati. A detailed description—by the oh-so-fittingly named Sir Hamon L’Estrange—of a dodo a mere quarter century before the bird’s extinction. These moments are the winking epigraphs of grinning Death, gleaned from Giles Milton’s history of the bizarre, the obfuscated and the macabre. And what a history it is!"—Paste Magazine

“[An] easily digestible mix of humor, trivia, and solid research….Dozens of seemingly too-good-to-be-true tales…There are plenty of fabulously dramatic adventures here…Milton’s entertaining collection is sure to leave readers waiting for the next volume in the series."—Publishers Weekly

What listeners say about When Hitler Took Cocaine and Lenin Lost His Brain

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Quite entertaining

So many interesting little stories from history. Very easy to listen to, the narration is entertaining. A detractor for me was that some of the short stories seem to end abruptly, providing little information aside from a brief summary. You won't gain anything groundbreaking from this book but for entertainment and sparking a little curiosity it's certainly worth a listen.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Not very compelling

This book was recommended to me by a friend, so I didn't really research it much before delving in. The historical stories I wanted to hear more about (Hitler, Lenin, etc.) were really briefly covered...a lot of the book was just more or less interesting tidbits of history. Usually less, but maybe that's just me. I guess I didn't realize the format of this book before purchasing.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Sometimes funny, sometimes sad and quite disturbing but definitely interesting.

A few of the stories in this book were familiar to me but most of them I had never heard.
It was a very interesting collection of odd historical events.
As I said in my title some of them were pretty disturbing.
If you are squeamish like me, you may need to take a break at times.
There were several stories that dealt with cannibalism and those are the ones that I found it difficult to listen to.
As someone who loves both history and trivia I enjoyed this book very much and would highly recommend it.
As you can see from my rating I thought that the author did a very good job as narrator as well.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

copyright message cut off audio

the recording was cut off at the end by a copyright message. pretty annoying that I missed the end of the book

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Golden nuggets of history

A book that is both entertaining and will give you a glimpse into modern history you never heard of. These stories will get you thinking and entertainin you. Just listen to it, you won't regret it.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Unoriginal at best

Half of the book is a summary of various major motion pictures. Could not be more unoriginal if they tried!!!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Tidbits from history

Entertaing. Am looking forward to next Giles Milton book alread. This one I will defenitely listen to again.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Interesting history

These stories were amazing to hear. I was curious as to how the author was able to dig up all the details of these world famous people.
It’s a good adult read for history lovers.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • K
  • 01-25-22

Quick read but very interesting!

I absolutely loved this - it was full of stories & facts I had never heard before. Highly recommend!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful listen.

The stories are absolutely wonderful. You will have plenty to talk about at your next social gathering.

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