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UK Authors - Historical non fiction - |
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The Mammoth Book of How It Happened |
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| The Mammoth Book of How It Happened Editor: Jon E. Lewis Robinson 630 pages, 2000 ISBN 1841191493 Reviewed by our UK Editor Rachel A. Hyde However well written and researched a historical novel or textbook is, it cannot possibly compete with an eyewitness account from somebody who was actually there are the time. This book is full of such accounts, and they encompass four thousand years of history. It doesn’t do this very evenly though, and half of the book is devoted to the 20th century, the preceeding nineteen centuries being given rather less space. On the cover, the book claims to feature documents dating back to 2700 BC but in fact, the oldest document dates back only to 2000BC (a schoolboy’s day). Then there is a jump to 600BC and Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian palace. By page 26, you are already into AD dates, and so the first two thousand years have already passed - not a useful reference work if you want to find out about the ancient world. This aside, there are some truly fascinating documents here, and some of the most interesting include advice from a Roman on how to keep a slave, dinner with Attila the Hun, fighting the Battle of Britain and the Sex Pistol’s first concert. All aspects of life are covered from executions to discoveries, battles to cultural events. There is a useful chronology at the front that gives dates of various key events in history. Many of the accounts have short introductions which make this a great book to dip into at odd moments. I particularly liked the way the book showed the diversity of life and did not just stick to well known major events, allowing space also for ordinary people who weren’t historical celebrities or journalists to tell their stories. This book was originally first published in 1998 but has been updated for the Millennium. |
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