Assholes

In this, er, ’unique’ illustrated potted history of the human race, Twitter icon James Felton uses his inimitable brand of banter to unveil the slyest, creepiest and/or nastiest specimens who’ve ever lived.

Enter the 16th Century Chinese Emperor Zhegende, whose harem was so big some of the women within it died of starvation, King Charles II’s executioner who would only give you a clean beheading if you paid properly for it beforehand, and llya Ivanovich Ivanov, the 19th Century scientist who was a mega asshole and if you buy the book you’ll find out why.

Darkly funny, highly informative and always unbelievable, these are the dead people you should be mad at.

James Felton is a writer and journalist, whose articles regularly appear in the Guardian, Independent, Daily Mash and IFL Science. As a writer for television, his work includes the BAFTA award-winning The Dog Ate My Homework. His books 52 Times Britain was a Bellend and Sunburn have between them sold over 100,000 copies. He has over 330,000 followers on Twitter and routinely goes viral.