Yes Virginia, pee really does have a history-a wild history which winds its golden stream through the origins of Count Dracula, ancient Hindu doctrine, the wool industry, cosmetics, unbelievably kinky sex, a major U.S Supreme Court decision, and Roman tax law. In these pages, you will discover that women's urine was supposed to be the secret weapon of the South during the American Civil War, that artworks created with the artist's pee have sold for millions of dollars and tankers of rancid piss used to ply the coast of England. Yes, you really can make a urine bomb, and right now you are using an ingredient found in pee to whiten your teeth. This richly illustrated volume will tell the story of this most familiar of liquids one which influenced people's lives and changed the history of the world.

Black & White Edition How did people clean their rear ends before the invention of paper? The ancient Greeks used stones! Really! This rear-window view of the history of the world also details how the kings and queens of England and France wiped their royal asses? Not like you and I. What does Judaism, Islam and Buddhism have to say about this act? Surprisingly a lot. How did an ass-kisser -- that is, man who actually kissed his patron's ass -- almost become Pope. Who is the real father of toilet paper? You won't find the answer on the Internet. Why do most people in the world think that wiping with paper is disgusting? Is there a better way? This is the first book to present a fully-documented history of the act that every human being has done every day since the beginning of time.

Get ready for the wildest ride in history! "Crazy History: 100 Mind-Blowing Historical Facts That Prove Humanity Has Always Been Nuts!" is the perfect book for anyone who loves a good laugh and a mind-bending story. With 100 of the craziest and most unbelievable historical facts from around the world, this book will keep you entertained for hours. Discover how some weird people declared war over a wooden bucket, learn about a widow who bought a tank to avenge her husband's death, and find out about the bizarre plan to nuke the moon. These are just a few of the hilarious and absurd stories you'll find in this irreverent guide to the insanity of human history. But that's not all! You see, "Crazy History" also includes profiles of some of the most bizarre and eccentric historical figures, from the king who became a pirate after losing his throne to an emperor who had more ego than sense. And if that's not enough to blow your mind, the book also features stories of how some people met an untimely end in the most unexpected ways. So why wait? Grab a copy of these hilarious and absurd stories today and prepare to be amazed, amused, and slightly disturbed by the sheer nuttiness of the past. Whether you're a history buff or just looking for a good laugh, this book is guaranteed to entertain and enlighten.

A successful doctor faces the lingering trauma of sexual abuse—and the former Scoutmaster who molested him—in this “refreshingly honest” memoir (Publishers Weekly). Growing up on Staten Island in the 1970s, Frank Spinelli’s working-class Italian parents viewed cops and priests as second only to the Pope. His mother, concerned that her son was being bullied at school for being “different,” signed Frank up for Boy Scouts when he turned eleven. For the next two years, Frank’s life had two realities—one lived in full view of his family, and the other a secret he shared with his Scoutmaster that he couldn’t confess to anybody. Eventually Frank went to college, established a thriving medical practice, and found a home in Manhattan. But the emotional and physical effects of his past continued to shadow every aspect of his life. Then a shocking discovery gave Frank the opportunity to overturn thirty years of confusion and self-blame—for himself, and for other boys like him. “This is one of those horrific, true stories that Dr. Spinelli so courageously reveals . . . His story is one of too many, but maybe, this one will help open our eyes a little more and shine a light on a taboo subject that many chose not to see.” —Whoopi Goldberg

Discover the stomach-churning truth about the animal poop, pee, vomit, and secretions that humans have eaten throughout history—and sometimes still do—in Christine Virnig's laugh-out-loud middle-grade nonfiction debut. Dung for Dinner is illustrated by Korwin Briggs. From Roman charioteers scarfing wild boar dung to astronauts guzzling their own pee to today's kids spreading insect vomit on their toast, this humorous compendium is chock-full of history, science, and fascinatingly gross facts. Bug secretions coating your candy corn? Rodent poop in your popcorn? Physicians tasting their patients' pee? It’s deliciously disgusting! *SCBWI Golden Kite Award Finalist for Older Nonfiction

Named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker and The Boston Globe An authoritative, illuminating, and deeply humane history of addiction—a phenomenon that remains baffling and deeply misunderstood despite having touched countless lives—by an addiction psychiatrist striving to understand his own family and himself “Carl Erik Fisher’s The Urge is the best-written and most incisive book I’ve read on the history of addiction. In the midst of an overdose crisis that grows worse by the hour and has vexed America for centuries, Fisher has given us the best prescription of all: understanding. He seamlessly blends a gripping historical narrative with memoir that doesn’t self-aggrandize; the result is a full-throated argument against blaming people with substance use disorder. The Urge is a propulsive tour de force that is as healing as it is enjoyable to read.” —Beth Macy, author of Dopesick Even after a decades-long opioid overdose crisis, intense controversy still rages over the fundamental nature of addiction and the best way to treat it. With uncommon empathy and erudition, Carl Erik Fisher draws on his own experience as a clinician, researcher, and alcoholic in recovery as he traces the history of a phenomenon that, centuries on, we hardly appear closer to understanding—let alone addressing effectively. As a psychiatrist-in-training fresh from medical school, Fisher was soon face-to-face with his own addiction crisis, one that nearly cost him everything. Desperate to make sense of the condition that had plagued his family for generations, he turned to the history of addiction, learning that the current quagmire is only the latest iteration of a centuries-old story: humans have struggled to define, treat, and control addictive behavior for most of recorded history, including well before the advent of modern science and medicine. A rich, sweeping account that probes not only medicine and science but also literature, religion, philosophy, and public policy, The Urge illuminates the extent to which the story of addiction has persistently reflected broader questions of what it means to be human and care for one another. Fisher introduces us to the people who have endeavored to address this complex condition through the ages: physicians and politicians, activists and artists, researchers and writers, and of course the legions of people who have struggled with their own addictions. He also examines the treatments and strategies that have produced hope and relief for many people with addiction, himself included. Only by reckoning with our history of addiction, he argues—our successes and our failures—can we light the way forward for those whose lives remain threatened by its hold. The Urge is at once an eye-opening history of ideas, a riveting personal story of addiction and recovery, and a clinician’s urgent call for a more expansive, nuanced, and compassionate view of one of society’s most intractable challenges.

From the outrageously filthy and oddly innocent comedienne and star of the powerful 2015 film I Smile Back Sarah Silverman comes a memoir—her first book—that is at once shockingly personal, surprisingly poignant, and still pee-in-your-pants funny. In this collection of humorous essays, Sarah Silverman tells tales of growing up Jewish in New Hampshire, losing her virginity, learning to curse at 3 years old, and being a bedwetter until she was old enough to drive, and in a surprisingly poignant piece, she recounts the accidental death of her infant brother. Of course, in her loopy, taboo-breaking way, she always manages somehow to leave you laughing. But then you’d expect nothing less from a woman who sang to her boyfriend on national television that she was “F***ing Matt Damon.” If you like Sarah’s television show The Sarah Silverman Program, or memoirs such as Chelsea Handler’s Are You There Vodka? It’s Me Chelsea and Artie Lange’s Too Fat to Fish, you’ll love The Bedwetter.