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A Brief History of Vice

How Bad Behavior Built Civilization

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A Brief History of Vice

By: Robert Evans
Narrated by: Tristan Morris
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About this listen

 A celebration of the brave, drunken pioneers who built our civilization one seemingly bad decision at a time, A Brief History of Vice explores a side of the past that mainstream history books prefer to hide. History has never been more fun—or more intoxicating.

Guns, germs, and steel might have transformed us from hunter-gatherers into modern man, but booze, sex, trash talk, and tripping built our civilization. Cracked editor Robert Evans brings his signature dogged research and lively insight to uncover the many and magnificent ways vice has influenced history, from the prostitute-turned-empress who scored a major victory for women’s rights to the beer that helped create—and destroy—South America's first empire. And Evans goes deeper than simply writing about ancient debauchery; he recreates some of history's most enjoyable (and most painful) vices and includes guides so you can follow along at home.

You’ll learn how to:

• Trip like a Greek philosopher.
• Rave like your Stone Age ancestors.
• Get drunk like a Sumerian.
• Smoke a nose pipe like a pre–Columbian Native American.

“Mixing science, humor, and grossly irresponsible self-experimentation, Evans paints a vivid picture of how bad habits built the world we know and love.”—David Wong, author of John Dies at the End Civilization Ethics & Morality Philosophy Social Sciences World

Critic reviews

“Mixing science, humor, and grossly irresponsible self-experimentation, Evans paints a vivid picture of how bad habits built the world we know and love.”—David Wong, author of John Dies at the End

“Evans's goal is to investigate and illuminate the human tradition of merriment and debauchery, which he does with tact, humor, and insight.”—Publishers Weekly

“An engaging and compelling assemblage of pop culture and cultural anthropology (pop cultural anthropology?), an exploration of the growth of civilization via things that our own culture has in many ways declared taboo. This is one of the more entertaining books, fiction or nonfiction, or whatever, that you'll read this year.”—Allen Adams, The Maine Edge
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i was already a fan of the authors podcast and enjoyed this book a lot a nice mix of history and debortery! I particularly enjoyed his self experimentation with ancient laxatives..dont try this at home...things could get messy

A really fun listen

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Evans has an absurdist sense of humour that pairs brilliantly with his equally absurd subject matter. Fascinating from start to finish.

Thought provoking and entertaining.

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As a fan of Robert Evans other work I was disappointed that the book wasn't narrated by him but it was still very enjoyable.

Interesting and entertaining

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Well written and with some unique insights. Would highly recommend as an interesting take on our shared history.

Very interesting and well written

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The author tries very hard to be Hunter S Thompson but comes off as a frat boy trying to impress with his endless catalogue of yawn inducing drugs use reports. Drugs are the only vice really “explored” in this title. Everything else is given a once over in the eagerness to make literature out of personal rampant substance and alcohol abuse. The author’s language use is also abhorrent with out of place cussing that comes across as infantile and honestly just grating. This is a clear case of the title being grossly misleading. This is why literature needs editors.

Misleading, infantile and very poorly written

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