Great Tales from English History: The Truth About King Arthur, Lady Godiva, Richard the Lionheart, and More [Hardcover]

Robert Lacey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 3, 2004

With insight, humor and fascinating detail, Lacey brings brilliantly to life the stories that made England--from Ethelred the Unready to Richard the Lionheart, the Venerable Bede to Piers the Ploughman.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (June 3, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031610910X
• ISBN-13: 978-0316109109
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 1 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #485,172 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

"It's all here," says Tom Brokaw " - Islam, the family tree, a sea of oil and money to match, palace intrigue and the place of Osama Bin Laden. This is high drama and an epic tale. Dazzling - on every level". Robert Lacey is an historian and biographer whose research has taken him from the Middle East ("The Kingdom: Arabia and the House of Saud") to America's Mid-West ("Ford: the Men and the Machine"). "Majesty", his pioneering biography of Queen Elizabeth II, is the definitive study of British monarchy - a subject on which Robert lectures around the world, appearing regularly on ABC's Good Morning America and on CNN's Larry King Live. To research and write his latest book, "Inside the Kingdom", he went to live in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for three years. You can read more about Robert's new book - and also view his acclaimed TV film report for PBS NOW on Saudi extremists - on his website www.insidethekingdom.net

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating ancedotal history, June 4, 2004

By 

ilmk "ilmk" (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Great Tales from English History: The Truth About King Arthur, Lady Godiva, Richard the Lionheart, and More (Hardcover)

Lacey's latest effort is superlative simply because it achieves what it states in its introduction. Namely, to provide a series of anecdotal storeis regarding historical figures any English person simply should know about. As he blandly states, history drops of the curricula quite early on in the english school and the history there is focuses on thematic history rather than factual. I recall dropping history at an early age because it was all about the political twentieth century and didn't really go into our history prior to the Industrial Revolution.
Lacey seeks to rectify that with his delightful and accurate stories about the greatest historcial figures from England's past, cheerfully admitting where he is simply adding to the `word-of-mouth' means of keeping history alive (albeit in the written format) and that he has no primary evidence for the stories. As such we are treated to stories that are part of English folklore, such as King Arthur, Whitby, Cheddar Man, King Alfred, Robin Hood and more. Each is told is a factual manner but doesn't forget that the primary motive for history is storytelling, hence the anecdotal style. The sequence of short tales means you can dip in and out of the book, rather than having to read it staight through (though this is just as pleasurable a read) and, by the end, as it so often is, you remember a lot about many of the tales for the human gossip element that prevails throughout.

36 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating expose of best-loved tales, May 31, 2004

By 

Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Great Tales from English History: The Truth About King Arthur, Lady Godiva, Richard the Lionheart, and More (Hardcover)

Robert Lacey has compiled a chronicle of anecdotal English History from 7150 BC through Richard II's reign in AD 1381, when the first faint rumblings of democracy spread across the land, as well as an awareness of the economic opportunity that sometimes arises from the misfortune of others. In this compact tome, Lacey tackles some of the stories that have been cloaked in mystery and mythology, told and retold over the years, exposing obvious fallacies and offering more sensible, if less colorful explanations for such phenomenon as Lady Godiva's naked romp, King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table and the true adventures (?) of Robin Hood, who "stole from the rich to give to the poor."

By demythologizing history, Lacey breathes life into pivotal characters, placing them in an appropriate context from which we can view their exploits with a grain of common sense. Of even greater value and a welcome addition to this slim volume are the bibliography and source notes provided at the back of the book. Lacey takes advantage of the electronic age, offering a series of internet sites where the reader may indulge his curiosity for English history in general, or individual stories as listed in the Table of Contents, whether it be Henry I and the tragedy of The White Ship, The Domesday Book or The Fair Maid of Kent and The Order of the Garter.

Myriad small, but important details abound: once the Romans left Britain in 410 AD, written records of civilization were not kept until nearly 600 AD because the Anglo- Saxons did not keep recorded accounts; the Venerable Bede was the first real English historian and it is he who tells of the insults passed between the Irish and the English, the first documented poet, Caedemon, the popular disciplines of science, mathematics, astronomy and poetry and the process of AD dating; after the battle of Hastings in 1060, William the Conqueror introduced the element of the people's consent into governance, hence the phrase, "Long live the King!"; the White Ship incident was the Titanic of the Middle Ages, carrying the heir of Henry I, as it tragically sunk with the hopes of the future and the lack of an heir led to the first prolonged civil war; and the first anti-Semitic atrocities were committed during the reign of Richard the Lionheart, heir of Henry II, who did his best to stop the attacks, but later went on Crusade to Palestine, where he showed no mercy in the slaughtering of Muslims.

Certainly, you can research your favorite stories or indulge in a great historical romp through the centuries, beginning with the bones of Cheddar Man. I wasn't sure which route to take, but once I started with Cheddar Man, I just kept reading, tracking the evolution of civilization until I reluctantly came to the end of this volume. At that point, I carefully read the chapter notes and made a list of topics that especially piqued my curiosity. No Condensed Reader's Digest this, but a concise, brilliant compilation of facts guaranteed to spark any reader's interest. Luan Gaines/ 2004.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction to the history of England, July 7, 2004

By 

M. C. Clark "merrykate" (Sequim, WA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Great Tales from English History: The Truth About King Arthur, Lady Godiva, Richard the Lionheart, and More (Hardcover)

If you're looking for in-depth analysis of English history, look elsewhere. However, if you want to get a grasp of the major figures and events of early English history, and have fun reading it, this is the book for you. The author has an eye for the details of history which tell a great deal about how the people of the time lived, without getting bogged down in dry trivia. He spends some time debunking popular myths, such as King Arthur and Lady Godiva, but the actual history on which the myths were built is far more fascinating. I especially appreciate his acceptance of historical figures as they were, as opposed to the judgemental, politically-correct attitude so many modern historians bring to their work. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants a quick overview of English history.