History de-bunked! (Giles Milton in general)

Name: BonyTony

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Product:	Giles Milton in general
Date:	21/09/06 (27 review reads)
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When I was a lad at school, History was as dry as the paper it was written on - memorising numbers and names for no reason that I could discern.
The books gave no insight, the teachers did their best, but it had no bearing on 'today'. True, his books are full of dates and names (the lifeblood of History), but every page is alive with the souls of those people who made that History.
Giles Milton is a historian with a penchant for uncovering those little-known snippets of history that were pivotal in creating the bigger picture.
I have read several of his books, "White Gold", "Samurai William", "The Riddle and the Knight", but most admired is his first, "Nathaniel's Nutmeg". We are taken on a whirlwind journey across the centuries and round the globe, each chapter heralding the next with a snippet of information, like dangling bait, so one is eagerly waiting for the next chapter to unfold.
This is not just a compilation of events and dates, the meticulous background research that went into this must have taken years; Giles Milton has studied every scrap of available material, in umpteen languges, specifically to flesh out the bones of what could have been another dusty tome.
The heroes and villains of the piece are REAL people in this book, people you want to meet (or avoid!) and they are brought to life by the fluid style of Mr. Milton's prose - it drags you along with it, urging you to read faster and faster, ultimately having to stop for lack of mental breath - then off into the fray again.
I cannot praise him too highly - a revelation for those who thought that history is bunk!

Summary: Making History accessible and pertinent.