History That Rattles: The Strange, Surprising and True History of Survival

A razor-sharp, story-first history of how ordinary people survived plagues, hunger, and bad medicine.

For readers who want vivid, short chapters and a grown-up lens on what really kept humans alive.


- What you’ll get: gripping micro-histories with zero textbook fog.
- Why it’s different: everyday survival—not kings and battles—drives the story.
- You’ll walk away with: a clearer sense of how fragile bodies built resilient societies.

Historian Barbora Jirincová, PhD, reveals the strange and unsettling truths that shaped our world — from plague doctors and falcons-for-rent to the fashionable tragedy of tuberculosis. These stories aren’t comedy, though some are absurd; they are glimpses of how real people endured hunger, fear, faith, and medicine that often did more harm than good.

Inside, you’ll encounter:


- Knights paying their rent in a single falcon.
- Peasants freezing in the Little Ice Age while witch hunters warmed their hands.
- Surgeons racing against the clock of their patients’ screams.
- Myths and legends that refuse to die — even on the silver screen.

From Kyiv in flames to Cold War catwalks, History That Rattles uncovers the unsettling, often forgotten side of the past — and reminds us that history has always belonged less to emperors than to everyone else.

Both unsettling and illuminating, History That Rattles uncovers the strange truths behind our myths — and reminds us that humanity’s story has always belonged not to emperors, but to everyone else.

Scroll up and grab your copy today — and discover the strange, sharp, and thought-provoking side of history.