Did you know that Hitler used to take cocaine?
That Stalin robbed a bank?
That some people stole Charlie Chaplin's body and demanded ransom?

Giles Milton unfolds, with his charismatic pen, one hundred paradoxical historical snapshots, one hundred incredible stories that read like a novel, but are one hundred percent real. We will learn about Hiro Onoda, the solitary Japanese soldier who bravely fought in World War II until... 1974; about Agatha Christie, who mysteriously disappeared for eleven whole days in 1926; and about Werner Franz, a steward on the "Hindenburg" airship, who lived to tell the tale of his nightmarish experience when the "Hindenburg" burst into flames in 1937. With a cast of spies, criminals, cannibals, adventurers, and slaves parading before our eyes, Giles Milton's accurate and documented omissions take us on a journey through six continents and twenty centuries, shedding light on some of the darkest stories and some of the most peculiar and unforgettable heroes of History - humans and animals.