Mason has collected hundreds of examples of small events (many with a British slant) which he argues “determined” the course of future events. He is obviously an advocate of what was once called “The Great Man” theory of history, and it is great fun to think about “what if” in many of his examples.

A few of many decisive small events:

Napoleon had an attack of haemorrhoids that intervened with his usual battlefield surveillance.

Communist jets were two minutes away from opening fire on American planes during the Cuban missile crisis, when they ran too low on fuel.

A Canadian blacksmith threw his hammer at a fox and missed, but found a gigantic vein of silver.

Charlton Heston was cast as Moses in “The Ten Commandments” because his broken nose made him look like Michelangelo’s

Einstein’s last words were in German; his nurse did not understand German.

Winston Churchill might have died on the Western Front in World War I with his orderly during an artillery attack; instead he was ordered to meet with his corps commander three miles away.

Fidel Castro failed his tryout with the Washington Senators in 1947.

Ronald Reagan’s application to become a member of the American Communist Party in 1938 was rejected because his vetters “thought he was a feather brain…a flake who couldn’t be trusted with a political opinion for more than 30 minutes.”

A great deal of speculation is involved, of course; how would things be different if we knew Einstein’s last words; how many other near misses did Chruchill (or Hitler for that matter) experience; did great events really turn on such small events?

But as a source of gossipy events (did they really happen, the book is short on footnotes), it can be great fun to read and speculate on the events described here. The book is well indexed and divided into ten chapters covering history, politics, chance beginnings, business, the arts and sports, etc. That makes it easy to point to the particular passage when you are challenged for your authority for some outrageous statement you make to a friend or neighbor.

Robert C. Ross 2010
Rating: 4 / 5