WHAT ARE YOU READING THIS MONTH? Horrible Histories You hate history, right? It’s boring. It’s a never-ending catalogue of dates and wars. It’s old, uninteresting and has nothing to do with you. In history, the government is always right, or at least well intentioned, (unless, of course, it’s someone else’s government, in which case it’s always wrong and evil as Satan). The kings and queens of Europe brought stability, progress and (best of all) civilization to the rest of the world; they discovered continents, they built magnificent palaces, churches and cathedrals and they brought their God to people who had the wrong God and were going to go to Hell if they didn’t step in and save them (and the kings and queens of Europe did all this without ever leaving home or doing a day’s work). If that’s what you think of history, you’ve been reading the wrong books. Terry Deary’s Horrible Histories are packed not just with absolutely fascinating facts but with the truth as it usually isn’t told in textbooks. The one I’ve just read, Cruel Kings And Mean Queens, concerns itself with the British monarchs form William the Conqueror (who, of course, wasn’t British). And they are quite motley crew really. Not people you’d want to be stuck in a lift with; and definitely not people you’d turn your back on. Funny, intelligent, and as gripping as any thriller, this is a book to change the way you see not just history but the world. And that goes for every title in this wonderful series.
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