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    English History Made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable
    Unavailable
    English History Made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable
    Unavailable
    English History Made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable
    Ebook418 pages6 hours

    English History Made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable

    By Lacey Baldwin Smith

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Here at last is a history of England that is designed to entertain as well as inform and that will delight the armchair traveler, the tourist or just about anyone interested in history. No people have engendered quite so much acclaim or earned so much censure as the English: extolled as the Athenians of modern times, yet hammered for their self-satisfaction and hypocrisy. But their history has been a spectacular one. The guiding principle of this book's heretical approach is that "history is not everything that happened, but what is worth remembering about the past.. . .". Thus, its chapters deal mainly with "Memorable History" in blocks of time over the centuries. The final chapter "The Royal Soap Opera," recounts the achievements, personalities and idiocies of the royal family since the arrival of William the Conqueror in 1066. Spiced with dozens of hilarious cartoons from Punch and other publications, English History will be a welcome and amusing tour of a land that has always fascinated Anglophiles and Anglophobes alike.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherChicago Review Press
    Release dateOct 1, 2006
    ISBN9780897336307
    Unavailable
    English History Made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable

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    Reviews for English History Made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable

    3.5/5

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    • 4/5
      What a witty and impressive book. The idea of distilling English history into one, small entertaining volume is genius, and Smith delivers everything she promises. My favorite part of her style is the ability to condense huge concepts into single, powerful sentences. Her astute analysis of Britain's gradual fall from supremecy in Victorian and Georgian times was, for me, rather thought provoking, and her analysis of the years after WW2 even moreso. The last quarter of the book is a section she aptly labels The Royal Soap Opera. In it she recounts the finny, morbid, creepy, and at times unbelievable events of each monarch's reign. Whether you are a committed Anglophile or just looking for an entertaining read, this book delivers in spades.