English History Made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable [Paperback]

Lacey Baldwin Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2006

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...". Its chapters deal mainly with 'Memorable History' in blocks of time over the centuries. The final chapter 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" is a welcome and amusing tour of a land that has always fascinated Anglophiles and Anglophobes alike.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

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 book¹s 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.

About the Author

Lacey Baldwin Smith is Professor Emeritus of History at Northwestern University and the author of a number of histories and biographies, including Henry VIII: The Mask of Royalty (ACP 0-89733-056-0 - 978-0-89733-056-5, paperback, $15.95) - "The best book on Henry VIII that I have ever read ..." A.L. Rouse. "Unsparing, witty and brilliant book." Irish Times

His other books include Elizabeth Tutor: Portrait of a Queen, Treason in Tutor England, Politics and Paranoia, and Fools, Martyrs, Traitors: The Story of Martyrdom in the Western World, among others. 

He lives with his wife, Jean, in Illinois and Vermont. They have two sons and a daughter.

 

Product Details

• Paperback: 275 pages
• Publisher: Academy Chicago Publishers (October 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0897335473
• ISBN-13: 978-0897335478
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #169,235 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful New English History, March 26, 2007

By 

John F. Binder (Skokie, Illinois) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: English History Made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable (Paperback)

This gem of a book is everything its title promises: English History Made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable. An eminent scholar of the Tudor period of English history, Professor Lacey Baldwin Smith in his newest book ranges over the entire course of English history. And like his many earlier books, it is a reminder that some historians can write insightful and compelling history in prose that is graceful, eloquent, and witty. While he describes this brief work (262 pages) as a kind of traveler's companion, the book is also a substantive summary of English history that manages consistently to reduce the complexity of that subject to "brief, irreverent, and pleasurable" analyses and descriptions. Absorbing what is here will give a reader an excellent understanding of the English experience and open the way to further explorations. The telling anecdotes and apt quotations enhance the dozens of illustrations, especially from Punch, that provide both serious and comic views of figures and elements of English history.

His comments on Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, one example of many possibilities, illustrate the point. Blenheim was the reward from Queen Anne for the Duke of Marlborough's (Winston Churchill's eminent ancestor) bringing Louis XIV to his knees. He combines a tone appropriate to the book's title while conveying a clear idea of the significance of the place in the larger picture. Blenheim Palace "may be the largest and most spectacular private pile on earth....that every tourist must see in order to believe; it is also a celebration of the robust egotism and extravagance of Britain's Augustan Age driven by the wealth of commerce and Empire."

He reminds us that written history in general "is not what happened in the past, but what today is worth remembering about the past." Chapter titles reflect this point and indicate the book's tone as well as realistically recognizing the changing position of England in recent decades: "History Worth Remembering (to 1485)," " More Memorable History (1485-1964)," and "Less and Less Memorable History (1964 to the Present)."

In the final chapter, "The Royal Soap Opera," Professor Smith provides wonderfully condensed portraits of the kings and queens of England, starting with William the Conqueror and concluding with Elizabeth II. We are in the author's debt not only for bringing order out of the considerable chaos of the centuries-long royal tale, but for doing it in such a delightful way. One may wonder anew, perhaps, whether the English will eventually adopt a republican form of government since so much of the royal history, especially in recent times, is less than inspiring. Professor Smith's remarks here are, as usual, insightful and nicely put: "British Royalty will probably survive scandal, paparazzi, and investigatory journalism so long as its scandals remain glamorous in the Hollywood sense. But what is eating at the soul of Kingship is not moral outrage but boredom....Once the soap is taken out of the Royal Soap Opera, the audience...may simply get up and leave."

Anyone planning to travel to England in body and/or mind will find this a delightful read.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Aptly named, June 1, 2008

By 

Booker Rad (Wichita, KS) - See all my reviews

This review is from: English History Made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable (Paperback)

Obviously, to cover a thousand years of history in a readable and interesting manor requires one to "hit the high points." The author shows a real knack for covering the events in English history which made the most impact on modern Great Brittain and the world. Still, the reasons behind social and economic change are covered with some detail. This book is a good read for a broad but superficial understanding of English history.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars History made easy, August 14, 2007

By 

Anne B. Ramsay (Fernandina, Florida United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: English History Made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable (Paperback)

This is less comedic than '1066 and All That' but is delightful reading. I wonder if someone who does not have at least a smattering of historical knowledge might be bemused at some of the allusions. I enjoyed it and sent it on to a grand-child who on a visit to London asked me what was there interesting in Westminster Abbey. I hope it might inspire her to read more history and enjoy it more.