English History Made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable cover art

English History Made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable

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English History Made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable

By: Lacey Baldwin Smith
Narrated by: Peter Noble
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About this listen

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 book's 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. English History will be a welcome and amusing tour of a land that has always fascinated Anglophiles and Anglophobes alike.

©2007 Lacey Baldwin Smith (P)2017 Audible, Inc. Europe Great Britain England Royalty Imperialism Middle Ages Thought-Provoking Funny Witty British Empire Latin American War Winston Churchill United Kingdom Africa English Grammar

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All stars
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Pretty good detail without dragging it out too much, and a good narrator. Slightly monotonous after a while but I suppose that’s to be expected when we’ve had so many kings & queens over the years! Recommended.

Good narrator and content

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Enjoyable and informative. Easy listening and entertaining which is how I’ve ended up listening twice. The irreverence makes it feel much more honest and interesting than many equivalent histories.

I’ve listened to it twice

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Exactly what it says on the tin, but very informative and insightful into the fallacy that is Great Britain, the conceit that was the British empire and quite possibly, the ‘own goal’ that is Brexit.

Brilliantly Irreverent

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I gave up when all the Romano and Dark Age history seemed to be just closed over pop history without any actual evidence based conclusions.

Mildly entertaining but

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I think this was a freebie (included w Audible Plus), but worth a listen if you are interested in a broad, brief sweep of English history

Enjoyable, not too serious history of England

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I enjoyed this book very much. The author delivers on what's promised in the title - English history is indeed made brief, pleasurable, and very irreverent. The book's tone is very witty and tongue-in-cheek, so if you take history very seriously, this is probably not for you.
Considering how short the book is, the author provides an excellent and in-depth account and analysis of historical events and their sociopolitical context, causes, and effects.
A nice little read. Recommended.

Witty and fun. Recommended!

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fascinating and humorous look at the royal family from William the conqueror to modern day

great listen

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Interesting listen… I didn’t much of anything about the British monarchy cept for what we know now and a few of the popular names so it was good it listen to a few stories which has encouraged me to search for mire

Interesting

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This is an easy listen, made easier by the occasional humour.
It does what it says on the cover, highly recommend.

Sometimes funny, always informative.

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I have been wanting a general overview of British history for some time now and this book sums it up very well.

Fantastic

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