Weird War

The Second World War is the bloodiest on record. It was the first total war in history when civilians, men, women and children were on the front line as never before. With so many millions involved, the rumor machine went into overdrive, with tall stories built on fear of the unknown. With so much at stake, boffins battled with each other to build ever more bizarre weapons to outgun the enemy. Nazi Germany alone had so many government-orchestrated foibles that they would be funny if they were not so tragic.

The history of firearms has never suffered from a shortage of strange ideas. Good judgment occasionally arrived late. STRANGE BUT TRUE: THE WEIRD HISTORY OF FIREARMS takes you through seven centuries of ingenious inventions, spectacular miscalculations, and weapons that make you wonder who agreed to test them first. Meet Chinese experimenters searching for long life whose discoveries helped unleash gunpowder. Follow early gunners into the awkward business of carrying a cannon on a stick. Discover beautiful dueling pistols built for ugly disagreements, pocket guns crowded with barrels, and ...

Tea looks harmless enough. A few leaves, some hot water, maybe a biscuit nearby minding its own business. But behind that polite little cup is a history packed with smugglers, emperors, samurai, spies, wars, taxes, stolen plants, fortune-tellers, bizarre rituals, and people who became dangerously emotional about when to add the milk. STRANGE BUT TRUE: THE WEIRD HISTORY OF TEA follows one remarkable leaf from ancient China to monasteries, royal courts, colonial plantations, Boston Harbor, Victorian drawing rooms, Tibetan mountains, Moroccan tea tables, Russian samovars, Japanese ceremonies, ...

Christmas dinner has always been a little strange. Before the turkey, cookies, and suspiciously indestructible fruitcake arrived, people celebrated winter by roasting boars, decorating peacocks, drinking enormous bowls of punch, and occasionally storing the holiday carp in the family bathtub. Nothing says Christmas spirit quite like discovering your dinner swimming beside the soap. STRANGE BUT TRUE: THE WEIRD HISTORY OF CHRISTMAS FOOD serves up the hilarious, surprising, and sometimes completely baffling stories behind the foods people eat during the most overfed season of the year. ...

America is turning 250, and somehow the party includes cracked bells, haunted taverns, giant president heads, battlefield ghosts, roadside diners, patriotic gift shops, and one suspicious cannon nobody fully trusts. Weird America 250 is a funny, strange, story-packed road trip through the odd places, dramatic legends, historic landmarks, and bizarre tourist traditions that helped shape the United States. This is not a dry textbook or a stiff patriotic lecture. It is a lively travel-guide-style journey through the country’s most memorable historic stops, from Philadelphia’s Independence ...

The Underground Knowledge Series VI–X plunges readers deeper into the shadows of global power, exposing the hidden forces shaping society in ways most people never imagine. In this controversial and explosive box set, bestselling authors James & Lance Morcan continue their relentless investigation into the world’s most secretive institutions, controversial subjects, and suppressed truths. BANKRUPTING THE THIRD WORLD: How the Global Elite Drown Poor Nations in a Sea of Debt reveals how developing nations are systematically crippled by debt, corruption, and predatory global financial ...

This dieselpunk alternate history WW1 story plunges deep into the trenches of France, where the rules of war have changed—and lightning obeys no master. April 1917, Chemin des Dames: a ridge soaked in blood and ambition. Amid the mud and ruin, a French artillery unit is handed a weapon that should not exist, one born from Nikola Tesla’s most dangerous ideas. The Foudre Rapide hums with restrained fury, its copper fins pulsing with charge. But power this raw comes with a price. Captain Émile Fournier, a man of calculations and guilt, must walk the line between science and madness, ...

Weird but True Stories from World War II: Bizarre but Real Tales from the World’s Strangest War dives deep into the hidden, surreal, and astonishing true events that unfolded between 1939 and 1945. From exploding rats and rubber tank armies to psychic infiltrators and bears enlisted in combat, this fascinating book uncovers the strangest corners of World War II history—stories so unbelievable they can only be true. Perfect for history buffs, trivia lovers, and curious readers, this compelling collection brings together ten incredible stories that reveal just how unpredictable and ...

Washington, D.C. may be famous for monuments, museums, marble buildings, and very serious-looking statues, but the real weirdness starts when you leave the city. Weird Day Trips from Washington, D.C. is a funny, story-packed travel guide to the strange, haunted, historic, and downright bizarre places hiding within a few hours of the nation’s capital. This is not another polite guidebook about where to stand for the perfect monument photo. This is for travelers who want ghost stories, cryptid legends, battlefield hauntings, mysterious graves, underground music, fossil shark teeth, strange ...

Weird but True Stories from the 1950's: Bizarre, Shocking, and Unbelievable Tales from America’s Atomic Age Think you know the 1950's? Think again. Beneath the surface of poodle skirts, chrome diners, and black-and-white TV was a decade overflowing with mystery, irony, and stranger-than-fiction true stories. This captivating collection reveals ten astonishing real-life events from the 1950's that defy expectation and logic—each one verified and rooted in historical fact. From radar panic over Washington D.C. to the eerie Phantom Whistler of New Jersey, from mid-air collisions with ...

Discover the strangest side of the Civil War that textbooks left behind. From sneezed-out bullets and exploding mules to musical ceasefires and sky-high spies in balloons, Weird but True Stories from the Civil War reveals the bizarre, hilarious, and unbelievable moments that actually happened during America’s deadliest conflict. These aren’t fictional tales—they’re real events, drawn from eyewitness accounts, battlefield reports, and historical archives. Explore ten shocking stories that shine a light on the surreal side of 19th-century warfare, including a Confederate soldier who ...

Discover the strangest true stories from the trenches, skies, and deserts of World War I in this fascinating, fully factual collection. Weird but True Stories from World War I: Bizarre, Shocking, and Unbelievable Tales from the Great War is a gripping, entertaining, and meticulously researched collection of real events that defy belief. From the Christmas Truce that stopped the war for carols and soccer, to a homing pigeon who saved an entire battalion, to the spy who used invisible ink made from an unmentionable bodily fluid—these are the stories you never learned in history class. ...

WWII’s Most Unbelievable Stories: The Wild, The Weird, and The War Ever hear a story so mind-boggling you had to ask, “Wait…that really happened?” This isn’t your typical World War II book. Instead of battles you’ve read about a thousand times, you’ll dive headfirst into the war’s strangest, wildest, and most unbelievable moments—the ones that sound like urban legends but are absolutely true. Meet the bear who served as a Polish soldier, complete with a uniform and rank. Discover why a handful of inflatable tanks fooled even Hitler’s best strategists. Learn about the ...

Step into a world of crowns, scandals, bad marriages, wounded pride, and wars that somehow began with pigs, pastries, buckets, potatoes, and one very unfortunate ear. Strange But True: Royal Scandals uncovers the bizarre true stories behind some of history’s most foolish rulers, disastrous decisions, and ridiculous international conflicts. From Henry VIII rearranging the religion of England to escape a marriage, to King John losing royal treasure in the mud, to Britain and America nearly going to war over a dead pig, these stories prove that power has never guaranteed common sense. Inside...

From Alexander the Great to Watergate, this unique, witty book based on the massively popular history podcast is full of wisdom and good old-fashioned banter. "These bespectacled, middle-aged bookworms have somehow made history alluring, borderline sexy.” —Times (UK) The Rest is History...

Are you ready to dive into one of the most fascinating and unexpected periods in history? 100 Strange but Fun Facts About World War II is your ticket to uncovering the weird, wild, and downright surprising stories of WWII. Beyond the famous battles and iconic heroes, this book reveals the strange, quirky, and mind-blowing facts that made World War II one of the most unique chapters in history. From wild military strategies to hidden resistance fighters, and bizarre war-time inventions, prepare for a whirlwind adventure through the untold side of WWII that will leave you amazed. Whether ...

After the Civil War, frontier doctor Killian Obadiah Davis rides west seeking peace, but finds a nightmare waiting in the settlement of Redemption. Families vanish without struggle. Bodies are found drained of blood. And the creatures responsible move with impossible speed through the darkness. Answering a call for help from an old comrade, Doc joins forces with sharpshooter Jed Raines, the deadly Irish gunfighter Declan Caine, U.S. Marshal Sylvanus Forrester, and steadfast saloonkeeper Patrick Godwin. Together, they stand, first in Redemption and finally, in Springfield, against a rising ...

Someone looked at a pigeon and thought, “That bird should guide a missile.” Someone else put a cannon on a scooter. And somewhere in Britain, a serious discussion about a nuclear mine included the possibility of keeping it warm with chickens. Military history has some explaining to do. In STRANGE BUT TRUE: WEIRD WEAPONS OF WAR, SparkTrail Press takes you into the workshops, testing grounds, secret projects, and extremely awkward demonstrations behind some of history’s strangest military inventions. These were real ideas, backed by real people who had to explain where the money went. ...

Pack your sunscreen, bug spray, and emotional support breakfast taco — the Texas Gulf Coast is not here to behave. Weird Gulf Coast Texas Stories takes readers on a funny, strange, and story-packed road trip along one of the most wildly underrated coastlines in America. This is not a polished beach brochure full of calm waves and perfect sunsets. This is the Gulf Coast of haunted Galveston hotels, pirate legends, shrimp boats, storm-battered beach towns, ferry gulls with criminal intent, mosquitoes that require their own defense strategy, and beach roads where trucks discover that sand is...

The world is at war — again — and its greatest defenders are back on the front lines. This collection of tales set during the Second World War finds Captain Gideon Argo and his loyal crew, The Flying Zombies, battling those arcane forces the Allies couldn't tackle on their own. In 1937, a werewolf stalks a Japanese camp in China, where Capt. Bullshark Dempsey is imprisoned. In 1938, Wings pilots a giant drilling machine into the deep earth with the crew, uncovering a hidden world of dinosaurs and indigenous people under attack by German soldiers. During the London Blitz, Doc Riley and ...