Unruly by David Mitchell
My review
5/5 stars
This, for me, is exactly what a history book should be - intelligent, factual and funny. Because, ultimately, history is funny; there are some weird and wonderful characters, some truly unbelievable stories and some things that couldn't be made up if you'd tried to.
David Mitchell is clearly passionate about his subject matter, as he seems to understand it so well. His career to date means he is capable of taking that subject matter and packaging it in a way that makes it feel accessible and light, despite the fact that he is covering some very dark and miserable things that happened in history.
I listened to the audiobook, and found that the author's voice served to make the book even more enjoyable than I think it would have been on paper, because it gave me a real sense of his pleasure in the topics he covered.
Book blurb
Think you know your kings and queens? Think again.
In UNRULY, David Mitchell explores how England's monarchs, while acting as feared rulers firmly guiding their subjects' destinies, were in reality a bunch of lucky sods who were mostly as silly and weird in real life as they appear today in their portraits.
Taking us right back to King Arthur (spoiler: he didn't exist), David tells the founding story of post-Roman England right up to the reign of Elizabeth I (spoiler: she dies). It's a tale of narcissists, inadequate self-control, excessive beheadings, middle-management insurrection, uncivil wars, and at least one total Cnut, as the population evolved from having their crops nicked by the thug with the largest armed gang to bowing and paying taxes to a divinely anointed king.
How this happened, who it happened to and why it matters in modern Britain are all questions David answers with brilliance, wit and the full erudition of a man who once studied history - and won't let it off the hook for the mess it's made.
A funny book about a serious subject, UNRULY is for anyone who has ever wondered how we got here - and who is to blame.
More...
You can buy the book here now. It was published by Penguin.
For more on the author, you can check out his Goodreads page.
