This quirky collection of "small events that changed history" reveals how minor incidents can have momentous consequences. It's a world of fascinating hypothetical contemplation! For example, what if the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna had accepted young Adolf Hitler's application and he had become an artist or architect? What if the American Communist Party had not rejected Ronald Reagan (apparently they found him "too dim") when he tried to join in 1938? And can you believe that heroin was created as a cold remedy and legally marketed as a wonder drug (starting mass addiction in the process)? Sure to both amuse and amaze, Napoleon's Hemorrhoids outlines all sorts of remarkably serendipitous—and disastrously unlucky—little occurrences that had big ramifications in the realms of politics, international relations, science, art, business, sports, and more.