History doesn't repeat itself. It sends an invoice.

In this revised and updated edition of Pothole of the Gods, Richard Murff embarks on a strangely comic journey through Iraq, Istanbul, Benghazi, and the long history of humanity's most enduring bad ideas.

Traveling with a humanitarian medical mission, Murff hits dusty checkpoints, hospitals and cafés for conversations with people living with the somebody else's grand strategy - threading ancient empires, holy wars, proxy conflicts, revolutions, and information warfare into one surprisingly coherent story about power, belief, and unintended consequences.

Equal parts travel narrative, history lesson, and geopolitical detective story, Pothole of the Gods argues that today's market shocks rarely begin in financial markets but with dangerous assumptions about history, ideology, and human nature.

Written before geopolitics became a boardroom obsession and updated for a world of sanctions, supply-chain shocks, proxy wars, and great-power competition, this is more than a journey through conflict zones. It's a witty field guide to bad ideas - because sooner or later, history always sends the bill.