History. Some love it, some hate it, some are just glad the AP testing committee was kind to them.
Whether or not the reader is an avid fan of history, however, Columbia Proffesor James F. Welles' The Story of Stupidity: A History of Western Idiocy from the Days of Greece to the Moment you Saw this Book, is sure to delight. The amazingly compact volume gives a brief overview of the history of the world, carefully pointing out the facts that implicate mankind's stupidity as the driving force of the entire world since the dawn of time.
In his opening chapters, Welles defines stupidity as "the learned corruption of learning." He describes both psychosocial mechanisms of stupidity and the bio-cultural basis of stupidity, even going as far as isolating animalian examples of stupidity that eventually evolved into human stupidity. The history then begins.
The book is set up in chronological order, from "Greek Stupidity" to "Stupidity Reformed" to "Industrial Stupidity," eventually ending in the modern era, or "The Age of Arrogance." One of the characteristics that makes the book so accessible and enjoyable is that it assumes no previous knowledge of the history of the western world. A brief overview of each era is integrated fully into each section, and each section is fully annotated, linked to a full bibliography to allow any interested in a particular era to research it further on their own.
Welles' voice is that of bitter wit, and his prose style proves he possesses one of the sharpest tongues in the world of opinionated texts. Nothing is sacred, and no criticism lacks humor. The one drawback to his writing style is that he is a bit verbose, and that his book, though brief, does take time to get through. But then again, it is a textbook, and not many textbooks can boast that they cause readers to fall to the floor laughing.
Originally printed in 1988, the book has been independently published with yearly new additions and continuations since its birth. It is distributed by Mount Pleasant Press, an indie publisher located in upstate New York. The opening pages include not only the author's new introduction, but his current e-mail address and an invitation to comment on the book. The same company also recently released Welles' second attempt to mix humor, history, and social commentary, Understanding Stupidity: An Analysis of the Premaladaptive Beliefs and Behavior of Institutions and Organizations. In a way, the original Story of Stupidity is a history of mankind's mistakes, and its sequel is a direct attack on governments, which it calls nothing but breeding grounds of folly.
While the intense book it may not be the best thing to pick up for summer reading, due to its intensity and the Welles' slow writing style, the book is nonetheless a great choice for pleasure reading, as it offers intellectual wit and knowledge alongside childish mockery of what the modern media has dubbed "the man."
