Great Tales from English History: Cheddar Man to the Peasants' Revolt by Robert Lacey

Robert Lacey
Thouroughly enjoyable

Published by Whole Story Audio Books
Narrated by the author, Robert Lacey
Duration: 5 hours, 45 minutes.

Robert Lacey has done something that many writers have failed to do (unfortunately) - he has written history in a fun, accessible, easy to grasp manner. After all, as Lacey points out in his introduction, the "history" and "story" come from the same Latin root word. Essentially, history should be the simple story of how things happened, to the best of the teller's knowledge.

Lacey's power as a storyteller is highlighted here in spades. He narrates his audiobook as well so there is the added bonus of hearing the author add nuance to the reading - essentially reading it the way he meant it to be heard.

The stories are short and entertaining. Only a couple of times in 5 hours and 45 minutes of listening did I find my attention wandering. This is a terrificly fun experience for any history lover. Full of interesting tidbits but not lacking in the larger themes or commentaries.

I am going to look for volumes 2 & 3 and hopefully he has written or is writing his volumes on Scotland and Ireland as well.

Bravo!

I give this one an enthusiastic 5 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on March 25, 2007.

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