When Hitler Took Cocaine and Lenin Lost His Brain

History's Unknown Chapters

By: Giles Milton

Narrated by: Giles Milton

Obscure and addictive true tales from history told by one of our most entertaining historians, Giles Milton

This program is read by the author, the host of the popular podcast, Unknown History with Giles Milton.

The first installment in Giles Milton's outrageously entertaining series, History's Unknown Chapters: colorful and accessible, intelligent and illuminating, Milton shows his customary historical flair as he delves into the little-known stories from the past.

There's the cook aboard the Titanic, who pickled himself with whiskey and survived in the icy seas where most everyone else died. There's the man who survived the atomic bomb in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And there's many, many more.

Covering everything from adventure, war, murder and slavery to espionage, including the stories of the female Robinson Crusoe, Hitler's final hours, Japan's deadly balloon bomb and the emperor of the United States, these tales deserve to be told.

Critic reviews

“If you get a kick out of odd historical trivia like that, you’ll devour “When Hitler Took Cocaine and Lenin Lost His Brain,” the first installment in Giles Milton’s new “History’s Unknown Chapters” series. Packed with 50 stories your social studies teacher probably skipped, the book sports a wandering eye and witty voice that make for diverting winter reading.”—The Washington Post

"A list of insurance claims taken out on pets drowned with the Titanic. A legend detailing the various forms of Chinese castrati. A detailed description—by the oh-so-fittingly named Sir Hamon L’Estrange—of a dodo a mere quarter century before the bird’s extinction. These moments are the winking epigraphs of grinning Death, gleaned from Giles Milton’s history of the bizarre, the obfuscated and the macabre. And what a history it is!"—Paste Magazine

"50 brief but detailed stories, from the hilarious to the absurd."—The Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Fans of history, trivia, and Miilton's previous works will delight in this collection of lesser-known historical stories."—Library Journal (starred review)

"Stranger than fiction? Possibly, but life always seems to create more bizarre people and unforeseen happenings than most writers will ever imagine."—CounterPunch

“[An] easily digestible mix of humor, trivia, and solid research….Dozens of seemingly too-good-to-be-true tales…There are plenty of fabulously dramatic adventures here…Milton’s entertaining collection is sure to leave readers waiting for the next volume in the series."—Publishers Weekly

“Milton has assembled an easily digestible compendium of historical oddities about the famous and infamous.”—Kirkus Reviews

Short Snippets of History

Very entertaining stories of History's past. very logically put together. Details of History that are not found in your history book.

Sometimes funny, sometimes sad and quite disturbing but definitely interesting.

A few of the stories in this book were familiar to me but most of them I had never heard.
It was a very interesting collection of odd historical events.
As I said in my title some of them were pretty disturbing.
If you are squeamish like me, you may need to take a break at times.
There were several stories that dealt with cannibalism and those are the ones that I found it difficult to listen to.
As someone who loves both history and trivia I enjoyed this book very much and would highly recommend it.
As you can see from my rating I thought that the author did a very good job as narrator as well.

Quirky Events In World History

An entertaining little tome of mostly insignificant but newsworthy events in history. Whether it's folks, who out of desperation, resorted to Canadian or the last soldier killed in World War I the author's delivery is clear and entertaining. A very interesting Audible offering.

very interesting

this is an enjoyable and surprising story. well narrated and compelling. glad I bought it

Quick read but very interesting!

I absolutely loved this - it was full of stories & facts I had never heard before. Highly recommend!