2024 Nonfiction Reader Challenge #8

Unruly: The Ridiculous History of England’s Kings and Queens

Written and Read by David Mitchell

Publication Date: September 2023

Summary from Goodreads:

Confession:

Like most Americans, my knowledge of British history comes from modern media, mostly TV series on PBS and Netflix, as well as movies and of course Shakespeare. I have always known that these were probably not the best ways to learn about English history, but who has the time to learn all of those kings and queens names and dates? I can barely keep US history straight, let alone another countries. But am I still fascinated by it all? Of course I am. So when I learned about this very humorous book about the early centuries of British history I knew I had to read it, or rather listen to it.

“I don’t know where the idea of Vikings having horns on their helmets came from, but it’s a brilliant one. In every possible way, other than the literal truth, they totally had horns on their helmets. Horned helmets was absolutely their vibe and I feel we all have a right to that deeper artistic truth. They had limited technology and manufacturing helmets was pretty tricky for them, I imagine, so putting horns on them wouldn’t have been workable, and wouldn’t have increased the functionality of the helmets, but I swear they’d have given it a go if they’d thought of it.”

I really enjoyed this book. It was funny and very informative. I had no idea when I started it, though, that the author was not a historian, but a comedian who just happens to know history (he does have a degree in history). I hope and assume that the facts he laid out in the book are accurate for the most part. He was the perfect person to do the narrative for the audiobook, however. He was spot on with his voice and the timing of the jokes, which, of course, made the listening all that more enjoyable.

“Queen Mary was known as Bloody Mary because of the large number of people she killed. And also because of misogyny. She was the first properly crowned woman to rule as queen regnant, not just queen consort. You weren’t supposed to be able to do this job if you were a woman, so a lot of people didn’t like it. That may be why she gets the sobriquet ‘bloody’ when many of her male predecessors were responsible for more deaths – in battles as well as executions.”

I really enjoyed how he related some current events and modern social context to the historical period that he was talking about. Such as how people viewed Queen Mary’s reign. The author would occasionally go off on rants about Brexit, current politics and even the last James Bond movie. These were often funny and at times laugh out loud moments for me. They also helped to put humor in what could be a very dry subject.

“Their certainty that they were right is worth remembering because it means there’s probably stuff we’re certain is right that future ages will correctly judge to be monstrous. The fact that everybody is convinced of something is no guarantee that it isn’t evil horseshit. 

The book starts pretty much at the beginning of Britain’s history, which is when the Romans left. It then meanders through a lot of different rulers from different parts of the country, until there eventually emerges one king to rule them all. How the British school children keep all of those names and dates in their heads is amazing, especially when they all have the same name, just different numbers. Hopefully there are teachers out there that make it as exciting to learn, as this book did. The book then ends at the Tudors, and Queen Elizabeth I, which to be honest was a fairly short section of the book on the whole. Maybe someday there will be another book that will pick up where this one left off.

“Obviously she didn’t marry him when she was eight. That would have been barbaric. They waited until she was twelve.”

If you are at all interested in British history this might be a book you would be interested in. I didn’t know that there were lists and family trees listed in the front of the book, which would have been useful to look at and refer to while I was listening to the book. I do highly recommend the audiobook, as the author does a great job reading his work. But it would have been nice if the charts had been included as a pdf. But please give this book a try, I don’t think you will be disappointed.