50books: a quickie
Oct. 26th, 2008 06:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
winterbadger"Great Tales From English History" by Robert Lacey.
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soccer_fox borrowed this from [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] and read it very quickly, so I tagged on and borrowed it too. It's a collection of short pieces describing events from English history from eras from prehistory the end of the 14th century. It starts with a description of what is known of Cheddar Man (who lived around 7150 BC) to the Great Rising of 1381 (known, as the author points out, rather erroneously as the Peasants' Revolt). It *is*, as advertised, *English* history. Other inhabitants of Britain appear occasionally as supporting characters, but the English are the central feature.
The 43 chapters are short and very readable. Each usually focuses on a person, though a few are more focused on events. The annotated bibliography provides excellent listings of general histories, plus a number of primary and secondary sources and recommended further reading for each chapter.
The style is chatty and easygoing. The author gently explodes some of the popular myths commonly passed about, while explaining how many of them came about or how and why they survived as indicators of what later generations *wanted* to believe about the past.
There's a second volume, released in 2005, subtitled "Chaucer to the Glorious Revolution"; if it's as entertaining and well written as this one, it's also worth reading!
soccer_fox borrowed this from [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] and read it very quickly, so I tagged on and borrowed it too. It's a collection of short pieces describing events from English history from eras from prehistory the end of the 14th century. It starts with a description of what is known of Cheddar Man (who lived around 7150 BC) to the Great Rising of 1381 (known, as the author points out, rather erroneously as the Peasants' Revolt). It *is*, as advertised, *English* history. Other inhabitants of Britain appear occasionally as supporting characters, but the English are the central feature.The 43 chapters are short and very readable. Each usually focuses on a person, though a few are more focused on events. The annotated bibliography provides excellent listings of general histories, plus a number of primary and secondary sources and recommended further reading for each chapter.
The style is chatty and easygoing. The author gently explodes some of the popular myths commonly passed about, while explaining how many of them came about or how and why they survived as indicators of what later generations *wanted* to believe about the past.
There's a second volume, released in 2005, subtitled "Chaucer to the Glorious Revolution"; if it's as entertaining and well written as this one, it's also worth reading!
