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An Utterly Impartial History of Britain: (or 2000 Years of Upper Class Idiots in Charge) | 
| Author: John O'farrell
Publisher: Black Swan
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy New: £3.86
You Save: £4.13 (52%)
New (36) Used (10) from £1.84
Avg. Customer Rating:  42 reviews
Sales Rank: 107
Media: Paperback
Pages: 592
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 1.6
ISBN: 0552773964
EAN: 9780552773966
ASIN: 0552773964
Publication Date: May 5, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews: Read 37 more reviews...
 Very, very funny November 30, 2008
A fantastic book for anyone who has an interest in British history and has a sense of humour. If you already have at least a basic level of knowledge of any period of British history pre-1945 and are looking for a book which is an easy and light hearted read then this is for you. It is crammed full of comedy based upon Ancient and Roman Britain right up to WWII. The entire book is divided into small sections, on average I'd estimate about 2 pages each, which makes it perfect for quick snatches of humour whenever you have a spare couple of minutes. Personally, I couldn't put it down - I found it to be a real page turner.
Highly recommended.
 Good substitute for fiction at bedtime November 11, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Though it claims to be witty, I'm afraid I can't add to the glowing reports of this book. This is not to say that it is an awful book, merely that I found it hard to engage with the style of John O'Farrell.
The reading is light and is a good a book to snuggle up in bed with as any, but I found the jokes were sometimes lacking and repetitive.
In terms of information I can't say that it was controversial to anything I have so far studied. It was hardly detailed but this is understandable with how much information was crammed into the tome.
John O'Farrell attempts to see history from a low-class point of view- a difficult challenge considering the mediocre information to be found on the subject in many eras- but I think he labours his point on 'upper-class' idiots a little too much, making his witty remarks at little less witty and a little more boring.
A good read overall but a little over-done.
 Ponderous text, predictable humour November 10, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Whilst the subject matter of this book (Britain's distant history - present day) is presented in a palatable way, the allegedly 'humorous' asides have made this read, at best, disappointing. I was prepared for this book to be witty (I've read some of John O'Farrell's other work), but not witty in such a pedestrian way - cheap predictable joke after cheap predictable joke. I expected better.
The best history book there is... I don't like history. October 29, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book takes 2000 years of British (mostly English) history, and is sarcastic about it. What the TV show "Have I Got News For You" does for the last 7 days, this book does for two millennia (in 500 pages).
I've never seen the point of reading about history. Although people say that it's about learning important lessons from the past to benefit all our futures, to me it always seemed like a long list of pointless names and dates which formed some kind of list of what order things just happened to happen in.
It's very funny, mostly in very witty ways (though there are a couple of cringeworthy puns), yet it's full of factual information that really does make it feel like you're learning something. It's patriotic but in an intelligent rather than a mindless bulldog way. There's massive helpings of satire and plenty of comparisons to modern-day news events.
It drags a bit around the year 1600 (but I think that's the fault of history itself rather than the book) but the World War stuff is genuinely moving. A really worthwhile read.
This is the only history book I'll ever need. In fact it's the only history book I'll ever read.
 It's not often I give a book up after reading 50 pages...... October 24, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
..... but I did with this one. I bought it because a friend said it was hilarious. I found it really irritating having some reasonable historic insight interspersed with purile humour, mostly revolving around repeated incarnations of essentially the same joke. It just goes to show that different people find different things funny! I hope someone who likes this sort of humour bought it from the Oxfam shop where I sent my copy.
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