The badasses populating the pages of Badass are the most savagely awesome historical figures to ever strap on a pair of chain mail gauntlets and run screaming into battle. Author Ben Thompson--considered by many to be the Internet's foremost expert on badassitude--has gathered together a rogues' gallery of butt-stomping rogues, from Julius Caesar and Genghis Khan to Blackbeard, George S. Patton, and Bruce Lee. Their bone-breaking exploits are illustrated by top artist from the fields of gaming, comics, and cards--DC Comics illustrator Matt Haley and Thomas Denmark, illustrator for the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering. This is not your boring high school history--this is tough, manly, unrelentingly Badass!
A hilarious nonfiction look at two of history's most epic failures the Wright brothers, whose countless crashes ultimately led to groundbreaking success.
Although Orville and Wilbur Wright are celebrated today as heroes for their revolutionary contributions to science and engineering--they are acknowledged as the first men to successfully achieve powered, piloted flight--their success was hard-earned. (Spoiler alert: there were a lot of nosedives involved.) In fact, it took the self-taught engineers years of work and dozens of crashes before they managed a single twelve-second flight! In this first installment of the brand new Epic Fails series, Ben Thompson and Erik Slader take readers through the Wright brothers' many mishaps and misadventures as they paved the way for modern aviation. The Epic Fails series takes a humorous and unexpected view of history, exploring the surprising stories behind a variety of groundbreaking discoveries, voyages, experiments, and innovations, illustrating how many of mankind's biggest successes are in fact the result of some pretty epic failures. This title has Common Core connections.From heroic George Washington to the dastardly Richard Nixon, the oval office has been occupied by larger-than-life personalities since 1789. The position comes with enormous power and responsibility, and every American president thus far has managed to achieve great things. However, the President of the United States is only human--and oftentimes far from perfect. While some men suffered through only minor mishaps during their time in office, others are famously remembered for leaving behind much bigger messes.
In the third installment of the Epic Fails series, authors Erik Slader and Ben Thompson, and artist Tim Foley, take readers on another hilarious ride, exploring the lives, legacies, and failures of some of America's commanders in chief.Ben Thompson--author of Badass, creator of the epic website badassoftheweek.com, and the Internet's foremost expert on badassitude--is back to enthrall lovers of skull-smashing, bone-crushing bad behavior with his latest compendium, Badass: The Birth of a Legend. Like its macho predecessor, Badass: The Birth of a Legend celebrates fearless berserkers of every stripe, male and female, but this time pulls them from the hoary pages of mythology, fantasy fiction, and the silver screen--from Zeus to Beowulf to Dirty Harry Callahan, the most merciless gods, monsters, heroes, villains, and mythical creatures ever envisioned. Forget your whiny Twilight vampires and werewolves, these badasses kick butt
From the Ben Thompson, author of Badass: The Birth of a Legend, comes a collection of history's most awe-inspiring duels and showdowns, brutal crusades and epic brawls, and profiles of the fascinating people who fought in them.
From Caliphs to Green Berets, some of civilization's toughest warriors are profiled in Badass: Ultimate Deathmatch, including Cyrus the Great, St. Moses the Black, and The Rani of Jhansi, as well as in-depth analyses of how they battled their way to victory.
Featuring original artworks by top graphic artists and comic book illustrators, and Ben Thompson's signature wry, side-splitting commentary, Badass: Ultimate Deathmatch is the history of badasses, the only way it should be written: covered in blood
In the fourth installment of the Epic Fails series from authors Erik Slader and Ben Thompson and illustrator Tim Foley, The Age of Exploration: Totally Getting Lost introduces readers to an international cast of trailblazers and details every mutiny, wrong turn, and undiscovered city of gold.
Christopher Columbus is one of the most famous explorers of all time, but he was neither the first nor last adventurer to ever stumble upon a great discovery. From the Silk Road of Asia to the icy shores of Antarctica, our knowledge of the world today is in large part due to several intrepid pioneers, risking life and limb for the sake of exploration. After all, setting off into the dark unknown requires an enormous amount of bravery. But every explorer quickly learns that courage and curiosity aren't enough to save you if you can't read a map or trespass on somebody else's land!In this second installment of the Epic Fails series, explore the many failures that made up the Race to Space, paving the way for humanity's eventual success at reaching the stars.
Today, everyone is familiar with Neil Armstrong's famous words as he first set foot on the moon: one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind. He made it look easy, but America's journey to the moon was anything but simple. In 1957, when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the world's first satellite, into orbit, America had barely crossed the starting line of the great Space Race. Later that year, our first attempt was such a failure that the media nicknamed it Kaputnik. Still, we didn't give up. With each failure, we gleaned valuable information about what went wrong, and how to avoid it in the future. So we tried again. And again. And each time we failed, we failed a little bit better. The Epic Fails series by Erik Slader and Ben Thompson explores the humorous backstories behind a variety of historical discoveries, voyages, experiments, and innovations that didn't go as expected but succeeded nonetheless, showing that many of mankind's biggest success stories are the result of some pretty epic failures indeed. This title has Common Core connections.WHERE WAS BUTCH CASSIDY'S LAST CAMPFIRE?
The original Pinkerton version places it in South America but a famous Documentary Film maker and his wife discover new evidence that it might have been in Utah after all. Did the Wild Bunch ride again? That would mean Cassidy survived The film crew sets up on the famous Robbers Roost amid spectacular scenery. Suddenly people start disappearing. It seems a Viet Nam Vet has discovered an ancient gold mine and may be murdering to keep it secret. The filming moves in next door to it. Murder is his only way of protecting it. Join us as the filming starts. The answers to one of the most daring questions of all time are hidden in the coals of the Last Campfire.
The definitive history of a golden age in British show-business, Sunshine On Putty is based on hundreds of interviews with the leading comedians of the era, as well as managers, agents, producers, directors, executives and TV personalities.
In the 1990s, British comedy underwent a renaissance - shows like The Fast Show, The Day Today, Shooting Stars, The League of Gentlemen, The Royle Family and The Office were hugely popular with critics and audiences alike. Just as politics, sport, art, literature and religion seemed to move towards light entertainment, the comedy on the nation's televisions not only offered a home to ideas and ideals of community which could no longer find one elsewhere, but also gave us a clearer picture of what was happening to our nation than any other form of artistic endeavour.
From Ricky Gervais' self-destructive love affair with dairy products to Steve Coogan's suicidal overtaking technique; from the secrets of Vic Reeves' woodshed, to the stains on Caroline Aherne's sofa; from Victor Meldrew's prophetic dream to Spike Milligan's final resting place, Ben Thompson reveals the twisted beauty of British comedy's psyche.
Into the Big Bend country rode wild Dunc Stewart, headed for trouble and the girl, Carmelita. Then old Hamp Wallace took cards in the game, his blazing guns siding law and order. Dunc knew some day he'd be sharing a triple showdown with Hamp and the notorious Jugg Allison...Because one of the three was the fastest draw in Texas
A Roaring Epic of Texas Guns
Into the Big Bend Country rode wild Dunc Stewart, headed for trouble and a girl, Carmelita. Then old Hamp Wallace took got into the game, his blazing guns siding with law and order. Dunc knew that some day he'd be sharing a triple showdown with Hamp and the notorious Jugg Allison...and one of the three was the fastest draw in Texas. They wouldn't know who it was until the last man was standing.
Ben Thompson was a pseudonym of John Burton Thompson, best known for his racy, sexy pulp novels of the 1950s and 60s. This was his bid for a breath-through novel and, decades later, he still stung from the book's failure to become a big success and vault him onto the wider, western market.
Everything you needed to know about the war between Russia and Ukraine as told by children's nonfiction author Ben Thompson (Guts & Glory series). Conversational and straightforward, this is a must-read for any reader looking to have a better understanding of the current global events.
It is late on the evening of Monday, February 25th, 2022, and Kyiv is burning. The unthinkable has happened. The Russians have invaded Ukraine. Land war has come to Europe, on a scale that has not been seen since the end of the Second World War. Since this date, Russia has enacted a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, led by its leader, president Vladimir Putin. Ukraine has fought back in turn, led by their president, Volodymyr Zelensky--defending their homeland and its independent customs, people, history, and language. Putin vs Zelensky by Ben Thompson chronicles the history of Ukraine and the events that set in motion the Russian invasion and ongoing, present-day war, as told through the stories and heritage of the conflict's two key players: Volodomyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin.We all want to be accepted, but instead of a book about how to get more Likes from others, this groundbreaking book is about how to do something even better-accept and like yourself. In Liked, Ben Thompson guides you on a journey to discover how you can become the primary source of your acceptance. Inside these pages you will learn:
- How to be more tolerant and less hateful toward yourself
- How to value and appreciate yourself more than ever
- How to reconnect to parts of yourself you've been afraid of
- How to love yourself without having to be perfect
- How to fully realize and enjoy who you are
Liked takes you on an adventure to find the acceptance you crave most. Are you ready to find out what it takes to experience yourself with full acceptance and enjoyment?