Customer Reviews

A Child's History of England (Everyman's Library)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a delightful history of England. It is a book for all ages. As an adult I have enjoyed reading the book for pure pleasure. My two teenage daughters have used this book numerous times for school projects, especially for their history and compostion classes.

I never appreciated Charles Dickens as such a charming writer until I read this book, so after reading this, as an adult, I went back to his most familiar books and found that I still enjoyed this one best! It is written like he is an oral storyteller and is so engrossing as to make it difficult to put down. I originally thought due to the title that I would just read it aloud to my boys but I found when they had fallen asleep I couldn't stop and have since read this book at least three times and bought a used copy for all my nieces and nephews. The history is very one sided and from an Englishman's point of view he has a poor opinion of his royals with the Great Alfred being the first and last king of any esteem. His descriptions of the wars with the thousands of dead contrast sharply with the "clean" wars of today. Fields with thousands lying slaughtered is incomprehensible. Life was so cheap then at least as described by Dickens. This is such an engrossing history but with so much strong opinion it certainly wouldn't pass muster in todays historical circles which is part of why it is so fun and dare I say naughty to read. One of the most enjoyable books I have ever read!

I read a one hundred year old copy of this and gave it away. So sorry about that. This was just a great book. The history of both Scotland and England is represented. The history just flows like easy reading. William Wallace, The Battles for Scottish Independence. The Different English Kings and some of their wiley ways, yes, its all there. Great for home-school parents. Definite book for history lovers old or the young.

This book is not appropriate for children. The words are too big and fancy. This is almost 500 pages of descriptions of people getting their heads chopped off or way worse. It just goes chronologically through all the kings and queens and tells in detail all the people they killed and all the attempts on their lives.

This author is pretty anti-Catholic. Joan of Arc was some poor unsuccessful misguided child who should have stayed home on the farm.

I am giving it three stars because it totally reshaped my view of English history. It helped me to understand the sort of crimes committed by dictators in today's world. I am glad I have finished it and don't have to read any more of it.