It’s No Lie: History Can Be Fun!

Now I know that sounds like something your 4th Grade teacher said to you when she introduced some poorly conceived game about history, but I am no 4th Grade teacher nor do I have a game for you. It is, in fact, a book. A book, say you! Yippee, hurray! Yes, boys and girls, a book. A trilogy, in fact. I must say that this is the best line of history books I have ever read.

The books I speak of are the following: A Treasury of Deception, A Treasury of Royal Scandals, and A Treasury of Great American Scandals which are all written by the amusing, and historically precise, Michael Farquhar. The titles above are actually just the main title to each book; the subtitles to each are what grabbed my initial attention (subtitles listed respectively): Liars, Misleaders, Hoodwinkers, and the Extraordinary True Stories of History's Greatest Hoaxes, Fakes, and Frauds; The Shocking True Stories of History's Wickedest, Weirdest, Most Wanton Kings, Queens, Tsars, Popes, and Emperors; Tantalizing True Tales of Historic Misbehavior by the Founding Fathers and Others Who Let Freedom Swing. If you can, in all earnestness, tell me those subtitles do not stir even the slightest, most minute bit of interest and intrigue then you, my friend, suck.

Granted, I was a history minor. My minor was in Pre-Modern History or, more simply, classical history. The reason for this focus was that Greece, Rome, the Persian Empire, etc. all had one obvious trait in common: they loved them some war. Ancient historians were never afraid to go into too much detail on how a soldier or general met his death; it was the ancient way of ensuring that one would be remembered forever. I would not personally want to be remembered by an axe through the center of my head, but those ancients were crazy mo-fo’s. And yes, this paragraph has a point.

I studied ancient history, and thus ancient war, because of the action. For me, it is very hard to make learning about massive battles and gruesome deaths a boring experience. And thus, this is what Farquhar does for his books: pulling the most interesting pieces of history, scandals among history’s most prominent leaders, and making a book out of it. Don’t get me wrong, there are a handful of ancient historians who can bore you to the point where a spear to the groin sounds relieving. Therefore, Farquhar cannot rely on his content alone to create a strong book, and he doesn’t. His writing is masterful, in that he speaks to the reader as a storyteller rather than a historian.

In having been a history minor, I have had my fair share of droning, dull history professors who don’t realize that speaking like a textbook is worse than reading a textbook. Imagine a professor, though, who tells you that Queen Elizabeth I, the “Virgin Queen”, was actually not a virgin at all and was actually as randy as an unappreciated housewife. Imagine the professor pacing quickly from one side of the room to the other, telling story after story about these historical figures and their shortcomings. I’d sign up for that class. And thus, I have all three books. I am currently finishing up Royal Scandals to soon move on to Great American Scandals and, even though I hate American history, I know I am going to love this book.

Amazon.com Links:
A Treasury of Deception: Liars, Misleaders, Hoodwinkers, and the Extraordinary True Stories of History's Greatest Hoaxes, Fakes and Frauds

A Treasury of Royal Scandals: The Shocking True Stories History's Wickedest, Weirdest, Most Wanton Kings, Queens, Tsars, Popes, and Emperors

A Treasury of Great American Scandals: Tantalizing True Tales of Historic Misbehavior by the Founding Fathers and Others Who Let Freedom Swing