History Without The Boring Bits by Ian Crofton (9781847240866)
History Without The Boring Bits by Ian Crofton (9781847240866)
History Without The Boring Bits (Book)
Ian Crofton Release Date: 01 Oct 2007 Format: Hardback Pages: 368 ISBN: 9781847240866 ISBN-10: 1847240860
Conventional chronologies of world history concentrate on the reigns of kings and queens, the dates of battles and treaties, the publication dates of great books, the completion of famous buildings, the deaths of iconic figures, and the years of major discoveries. But there are other more interesting stories to tell - stories that don't usually get into the history books, but which can nevertheless bring the past vividly and excitingly to life.Imagine a book that tells you the date of the ancient Roman law that made it legal to break wind at banquets, the name of the defunct medieval pope whose putrefying corpse was subjected to the humiliation of a trial before a court of law, the identity of the priapic monarch who sired more bastards than any other king of England and last but not least the date of the demise in London of the first goat to have circumnavigated the globe twice. Imagine a book crammed with such deliciously disposable information and you have History Without the Boring Bits.By turns bizarre, surprising, trivial and enlightening, History Without the Boring Bits offers rich pickings for the browser, and entertainment and inspiration aplenty for those who have grown weary of more conventional works of history.
