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  • English History Made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable

  • Written by: Lacey Baldwin Smith
  • Narrated by: Peter Noble
  • Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (39 ratings)

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English History Made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable

Written by: Lacey Baldwin Smith
Narrated by: Peter Noble
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Publisher's Summary

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.
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History
Great Britain English Grammar
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Profile Image for Justin Harford

ugh

if you assume everything said is with British sarcasm you can get through the book... but at face value I'm glad I didn't spend any money on it.

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Profile Image for Erin

"Irreverent," code for "Condescending"

Full disclosure, I couldn't finish it. In the name of "irreverence" the author dismissed the values, abilities, and histories of all cultures except the "civilized" English. And not in a clever, "pleasurable" way.

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