Fake Heroes: Ten False Icons and How they Altered the Course of History

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The best bit about this book is watching the author descend into exactly the things he outlines about others. Ráadásul ezzel dédelgetjük azoknak a lelkét is, akik velünk értenek egyet - hisz valójában mi is azt szeretjük a legjobban, ha ki van mondva nyíltan, hogy az "ők" és a "hülyék" tulajdonképpen szinonimák. Ettől valahogy jobban érezzük magunkat.

Fake Heroes: Ten False Icons and How they Altered the Course Fake Heroes: Ten False Icons and How they Altered the Course

We love a rags-to-riches story, and we love to see someone triumph through sheer determination. But the story is rarely that simple. My story isn’t, anyway.’ In a diary that takes us behind the scenes of their middling ambition, Nothing But The Truth charts an outsider’s progress down the winding path towards practising at the Bar. By way of the painfully archaic traditions of the Inns of Court, where every meal mandates a glass of port and a toast to the monarch, and the Hunger Games-style contest for pupillage – which most don’t survive – here is the brilliant reality of being a frustrated junior barrister. Mother to five children, Clover Stroud has navigated family life across two decades, both losing and finding herself. In her touching, provocative and profoundly insightful book, she captures a sense of what motherhood really feels like – how intense, sensuous, joyful, boring, profound and dark it can be. I’ve always thought Kevin Sinfield was a hero. His quiet, calm, committed leadership makes people want to support him and we are all doing that as he supports Rob Burrow and everyone living with MND’ Clare BaldingOverall, I enjoyed Fake History: Ten Great Lies and How They Shaped the World. It was easy to digest and had something of importance to say. In a world with so much information at our fingertips, it's more and more important to be able to sort the wheat from the chaff, and Otto English's book goes a long way in helping do just that. Excellent . . . at once a vicious polemic, a helpful primer and a cringe-inducing account of one barrister’s travails’ – The Telegraph Having exposed some of the greatest lies ever told in Fake History, journalist Otto English turns his attention to some of history's biggest (and most beloved) figures. Lejön az egészről, hogy a prioritás a szerző részéről saját indulata megélése volt. Aminek következtében szó sincs építkezésről. Pedig ha csak a fejezetcímeket nézzük, hihetnénk azt is, English egy ívet kíván létrehozni. Hisz azokban világosan meg van határozva egy állítás (pl.: "Régen az emberek azt hitték, a föld lapos"), amit a szerző bizonnyal cáfolni kíván, valamint ott az alcím is (pl. "A történelemhamisítás története"), ami mintha arra utalna, hogy egy általánosabb tematikus rendbe lesznek illesztve a fejtegetések. Aztán kiderül, hogy ilyen tematikus rend jószerével nem létezik, English csak csapong, össze-vissza hajigálja elénk mindazt a tudást, amit innen-onnan összecsipegetett, nem csoda, ha az ember egyes fejezetek végén őszintén elgondolkodik azon, hogy volt-e itt mondva valami érdemleges, vagy csak ventilált egy jóízűt az író saját magának. Having exposed some of the greatest lies ever told in Fake History , journalist Otto English turns his attention to some of history's biggest (and most beloved) figures.

Fake Heroes: Ten False Icons and How they Altered the C… Fake Heroes: Ten False Icons and How they Altered the C…

Whether it's virtuous leaders in just wars, martyrs sacrificing all for a cause, or innovators changing the world for the better, down the centuries supposedly great men and women have risen to become household names, saints and heroes. But just how deserving are they of their reputations? This is a mixed bag that deconstructs "great lies" of history and attempts, with varying degrees of success, to find parallels with the current political reality. The brilliant chapters on the hyper-mythologised version of Winston Churchill and weaponising of WWI/WWII memory in modern Britain will resonate with any Brit who has had the misfortune to question Churchill's legacy or, heaven forbid, neglected to wear a paper flower. I even liked the chapter on the dubious origins of "curry." Drawing on path-breaking research in archaeology and anthropology, the authors show how history becomes a far more interesting place once we begin to see what’s really there. If humans did not spend 95 per cent of their evolutionary past in tiny bands of hunter-gatherers, what were they doing all that time? If agriculture, and cities, did not mean a plunge into hierarchy and domination, then what kinds of social and economic organization did they lead to? The answers are often unexpected, and suggest that the course of history may be less set in stone, and more full of playful possibilities than we tend to assume. This book dismantles the lazy and pernicious tropes of the past as Otto English sets out to redress the balance and reclaim truth from those who seek to pervert it. Some of the individuals covered in this book became icons by accident or by dint of their good looks. Che Guevara was one of these. Had his face not been made famous by the promulgation of his image across the world, he might have been just another guerilla allied with Castro whose name was only known by far-left devotees. Instead, he happened to have a face that had icon written all over it and ended up incessantly emblazoned on middle-class bedsit walls and t-shirts across the world, as much of a capitalist consumerist brand as Coca Cola.

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Scrutinising figures from the worlds of art, politics, business, religion and royalty, he brings to light the murkier truths they would rather have kept buried away, at the same time as celebrating the unsung heroes lost to time.Fake Heroes exposes the truth of the past and helps us understand why that matters today. I have finished reading “Fake History: Ten Great Lies and How They Shaped the World” by Otto English. Right From Wrong is a deeply humane and honest book, and an unflinching look at men’s mental health and emotions at a time when our awareness of these things is of crucial importance.

Fake Heroes: Ten False Icons and How they Altered the Course Fake Heroes: Ten False Icons and How they Altered the Course

The reason the Norwegians were (and still are) so good at polar travel is because it's where they live, they do it all the time, they learn to ski before they can walk. Nansen is a towering figure in Norway, and rightfully so (just don't Google his nudes). Amundsen will always be a polar hero, but he is not so highly regarded due to falling in with the likes of Mussolini and his big interest in The Fash during his later years. This is the extraordinary story – moving, funny, brave, and sometimes startling – of how Katriona turned her life around. How the seeds of self-belief planted by teachers in childhood stayed with her. How she found mentors whose encouragement revived those seeds in adulthood. The ultimate, comprehensive guide to official country data and statistics, from the world’s most sophisticated intelligence-gathering organization. Fake History: Ten Great Lies and How They Shaped the World is both important and timely. It looks at the stories we tell both on a personal and political level, and how they shape the society in which we live. Essentially, almost everything is built on lies, but it's important not to let a good story get in the way of the truth.Let's get the problems out of the way first: this is a really inadequately edited book. There are numerous typos and other errors scattered throughout it, which no publishing house worth its salt should have let through. The writing is uneven at times and seems almost as if it was rushed, while the narrative is also fascinating in places. The overall premise of the book, however, is difficult to argue with, that "History, much like modern life, is in short full of bullies, self-promoting charlatans, bigots, bastards, and liars." Another way of putting it is that "the person who shouts the loudest gets all the acclaim," which is mentioned by way of explaining why Thomas Edison is widely regarded as the inventor of the light bulb, when it's not really that simple.