The Past Is Going to Suck: A Time Travelers’ Guide – The 20th Century

It’s hard to write a history book from a unique perspective. Honestly, there’s really only two options: history as it happens, and the history after it happens. Or so you would think.

The Past Is Going to Suck offers a peculiar third option: the history of the twentieth century as written by time travelers who lived through a better, less chaotic version of it. Yup, time travel is real, and it turns out the way things happened for us wasn’t how it was supposed to go. (That probably applies to events in this century as well, but I digress.)

Obviously, this book is played for laughs, presenting a comedic take on many of the seminal events of the previous century. It explains how Clara Bow invented sex, why we don’t elect bald presidents anymore, how Barry Goldwater was going to kill us all, and many other curious facts about the American Century.

Loaded with pictures and a tongue-in-cheek style of narration that lampoons everyone from presidents to musicians, The Past Is Going to Suck is a VERY abbreviated history of an incredibly important one hundred years, a book that never overstays its welcome and leaves you wanting a little bit more.