{"product_id":"unruly-9780241624524","title":"Unruly","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eBrought to you by Penguin.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDiscover who we are and how we got here by pre-ordering comedian and student of history David Mitchell''s \u003ci\u003eUNRULY: A History of England''s Kings and Queens\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e- a thoughtful, funny exploration of the founding fathers and mothers of England, and subsequently Britain.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThink you know your kings and queens? Think again.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eUNRULY\u003c\/i\u003e, 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTaking 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHow 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA funny book about a serious subject, \u003ci\u003eUNRULY \u003c\/i\u003eis for anyone who has ever wondered how we got here - and who is to blame.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRead by David Mitchell.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e2023 David Mitchell (P)2023 Penguin Audio\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eUnruly is part Horrible Histories part jolly romp guided by Alan Bennett. Perhaps this is how history should be done: not by patient scholars, but by free-swearing actor-comedians\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003ecramming more ideas and jokes into their pages than many professionals have committed to print in their careers.\u003c\/b\u003e * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFull of jokes and canny insights, 100 per cent sparkier and more revernt than your school textbooks\u003c\/b\u003e * I *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn enjoyable, rollicking read, definitely not a conventional history book\u003c\/b\u003e * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eI don’t think anyone other than David Mitchell could have written this book. It’s clever, funny and makes you think quite differently about history we thought we knew\u003c\/b\u003e * DAN SNOW, HISTORIAN AND BROADCASTER *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBy turns fascinating and funny - there is a jewel of an insight or a refreshing blast of clarifying wit on every page. David brings a delightfully contrary and hilariously cantankerous eye to the history of the English Monarchy. Informative, illuminating and very very funny\u003c\/b\u003e * JESSE ARMSTRONG, CREATOR OF SUCCESSION AND PEEP SHOW *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMitchell clearly knows his history, with a book that owes as much to Monty Python as it does to Simon Schama\u003c\/b\u003e * Andrew Marr *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Peep Show history of England\u003c\/b\u003e * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eClever, amusing, gloriously bizarre and razor sharp\u003c\/b\u003e. Mitchell - \u003cb\u003ea funny man and a skilled historian \u003c\/b\u003e- tells stories that are interesting and fun. His rants alone are worth the price of the book. And amid all the jokes and delightful nonsense, Mitchell sneaks in a serious message about English identity. \u003cb\u003eHere is \u003ci\u003eHorrible Histories \u003c\/i\u003efor grownups \u003c\/b\u003e- stripped of their finery, devoid of reverence, \u003ci\u003eUNRULY's\u003c\/i\u003e monarchs emerge as mortals with ordinary flaws.\u003cb\u003e I learnt a lot and laughed a lot, and people who have never before picked up a history book will read and enjoy this one. That's an accomplishment\u003c\/b\u003e * Gerard DeGroot, The Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eChatty, irreverent and liberally sprinkled with gags and opinions. Horrible Histories with added swearing. \u003c\/b\u003e * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eI can’t recommend this book enough. \u003ci\u003eVery\u003c\/i\u003e funny and interesting, it is above all a proper work of history\u003c\/b\u003e * Charlie Higson *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Punch-and-Judy show of awful people doing terrible things to one another. \u003c\/b\u003eThere is refreshing candour in how it calls out the bastards, bullies and brats who have donned England’s highest-carat hats. Above all, it’s \u003cb\u003ea funny read, playful and well-meaning . . . told in a fizzing and indignant style, rammed with entertaining tangents\u003c\/b\u003e. A sleek rod of Mitchell, fired from a rail gun, passing straight through the reader’s skull * Daily Telegraph *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWho knew a history of England's rulers could be this hilarious? A brilliantly entertaining romp through monarchs. \u003c\/b\u003e * i *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eProvocative, energeticlly comical, unortodox\u003c\/b\u003e. Stuffed full of comical scenes and anecdotes, which only an author with a fine sense of the absurd could give us. * Mail on Sunday *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA riotously funny romp through one thousand or so years of English history.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003eI cannot remember the last time I laughed as much as I did listening to \u003ci\u003eUnruly\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e Mitchell’s take on history is unremittingly funny as well as insightful. There are so many exquisite turns of phrase. \u003cb\u003eI had to stop listening whilst cooking for fear I’d drop red-hot pans, I was shaking with laughter so much. \u003c\/b\u003e * Entertainment Focus *\u003cbr\u003eI relished a crash course in English history with comedian David Mitchell’s ambitious \u003ci\u003eUnruly\u003c\/i\u003e. * Daily Express, Books of the Year *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA historical tour of English rulers in a book that is like no history lesson you've had to endure before. A semi-serious book full of weird and wonderful spectacle, scandal, and brutality.\u003c\/b\u003e * Luxury London *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eHe brings his typically wry style to an exploration of England's monarchy\u003c\/b\u003e * History Revealed *","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48733323264343,"sku":"9780241624524","price":24.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/unruly-9780241624524","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}