Customer Reviews

Ireland (Horrible Histories Special)

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

 

 

I love the Horrible Histories series and I'm not at all a stickler for perfect historical accuracy in them. These books are meant to make children interested in history and learn to enjoy reading.

That said, this particular "Horrible History" loses one star for being obviously biased against the Republic of Ireland, and another because this bias can be so damaging to kids. The tensions in Northern Ireland are not at an end, and presenting a view of the area that clearly comes out on one side of the conflict is truly irresponsible.

Adults will be able to recognize this bias and take it with a grain of salt, but if you are planning to give this book to a kid or use it in a classroom, make sure you let them know that this is a complicated conflict, and that history is written by the winners.

I love Horrible Histories, but so far, from what i've read, all the best books in the series seem to be the ones that focus on only one country/area (i.e. France, USA, Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, etc.). Ireland was great, I loved this book. it was informative and, like always, hilarious and chock full of jokes. I keep hearing people say that it is biased in regards to the Republic of Ireland, but I really didn't see any bias in the book. If there is any, that's how unnoticable it is. In fact, Deary is an extremely biased writer, and this was probably the book that I found the most neutral of all of his (You want biased, read USA. I still loved it, but I did notice some anti-American bias there). Overall though, this book is amazing. I loved every minute, and one of the things that helped is that unlike France or USA, I don't really know much about Ireland, so this book taught me lots of new things. Highly recommend it to anyone.