On This Day in History Sh!t Went Down

De: James Fell

Narrado por: Kelli Tager, James Fell

The hilarious, irreverent guide to world history you never knew you needed, featuring 366 profanity-filled tales of triumph and terror, science and stupidity, courage and cowardice

Those who cannot remember the past . . . need a history teacher who says “f*ck” a lot.

Nazis are bad. The worst kind of bad. There are no very fine people among them. If you disagree, you won’t like this book.

Still here? Cool. You are about to receive an education unlike any you’ve previously experienced. In this uproarious and informative tour from ancient times to the modern day and everything in between, James Fell, the self-proclaimed “sweary historian,” reveals a past replete with deeds both noble and despicable. Throughout the book, he provides insightful analysis of all the sh!t that went down. Behold!

• In 1927, actress Mae West was sent to jail for “corrupting the morals of youth” with her first Broadway play, titled Sex. She served the time and followed up with a play about homosexuality.

• In 1419, church reformers in Prague, vexed over their leader having been burned at the stake, defenestrated city leaders from a high window. They died, because those kinds of Czechs don’t bounce.

• If you were in the province of Shaanxi in China on January 23, 1556, then it sucked to be you. It wasn’t the biggest earthquake ever, but it was the deadliest day in history.

• In 362 B.C.E., a battle between Greek city states debilitated both sides, making the region ripe for conquering by Phillip of Macedon—aka Alex the Great’s dad—and spelling the end of Greek democracy.

• In 1343, the husband of noblewoman Jeanne de Clisson was unjustly executed by the king of France. Furious, Jeanne became a pirate, selling all her possessions to fund a fleet and exact revenge.

• During World War II, three Dutch teens used their beauty to lure Nazis into the forest with the promise of a good time, then out came the guns and BLAM! They sent them off to Nazi hell.

If reading history doesn’t make you want to swear like a mom with a red-wine hangover walking barefoot through a LEGO-filled living room, then you’re not reading the right history. Across the ages, over 100 billion humans have lived and died. Some were motivated by greed, others by generosity. Many dedicated themselves to the art of killing, while others were focused on curing. There have been grave mistakes, and moments of greatness. And that is why . . . sh!t happens. Every day.

©2023 James Fell (P)2023 Random House Audio

Fantastic Daily Book

This book’s daily short stories are so good and easily digestible. He keeps them full of humor and good facts. The profanity makes it even better. Highly recommended!

I I just laved listening to the reader.

There is a rhythm to this book filled with interesting stories none more than 500 words. I couldn't stop listening and laughing.

Well played

Light- informative and told with an interesting perspective. The cussing made it appear as if told by a friend over a beer.
Thanks.

Juvenile

Could’ve been really interesting, but aims for the 10-13 year-old-just-learning-curse-words audience.
All the pointless F-bombs and the way-too-cool vernacular wear thin quickly and render the history lessons tedious.
File this under “R-rated YA.”

Not for easily triggered snowflakes

To paraphrase Stephen Colbert, reality tends to have a liberal bias. No wonder anti-truthers don’t like this book. But if you can handle reality and quite a bit of cursing, this book is a great read. It moves along at a great clip and held my attention throughout.

Awesome book, can’t wait for volume 2

Loved the book and loved the narration. The anti-trump bits were icing on the cake!

Okay

The content is entertaining enough but it's more about the author beating you over the head with his political beliefs than it is about interesting and cool historical facts, about 90% of which take place in the 20th century. I actually tend to agree with the author's political stance, but it's just way too much.

The voice performance is really bad. I lost track of how many things she blatantly mispronounces or times she misspoke and it wasn't rerecorded.

Excellent book and terrific narrator!

As an online reader of Mr. Fell's history lessons, I eagerly awaited the audio form of his book. When I first learned of the choice of a female narrator, I was somewhat skeptical. I just finished listening to the book, and I should not have been the least bit concerned. Kelli Tager gave an outstanding performance, reading in such a calm, soothing yet meaningfully emotional manner. The material in the book is both interesting and informational with big doses of humor and insight. Readers need to be aware, however, that the title of the book is a big clue to the style of the writer. He calls himself 'the sweary historian,' and as such, he does not shy away from using a colorful (and sometimes inventive) vocabulary in describing significant and sometimes little-known events in history. He also does not hold back on his opinions, both positive and negative, of the people and events he discusses. In my opinion, his style and commentary make history come alive. I highly recommend this book for those who don't feel the need to have history bleached to a colorless blur.

Rad.

Fucking rad. (In the spirit of the colorful book prose). Very entertaining. I shit you not.

Could have been a good book

The premise of having a history book highlighting something interesting that happened on each day of the year throughout history is a good idea. The premise of doing it while adding in way over-the-top vulgarity is a bad idea especially when also incorporating far left editorial commentary throughout the book. Don’t waste your time or money on this one.