Wednesday, June 29, 2011

The Complete Idiot's Guide To European History - Part 1

I am very sorry for the delay for this update, it is caused by two reasons. First, I would have completed the America - The Story Of Us blog series, but since I watch the program through Netflix, an there are some difficulties at the moment I could not watch it. Second is that I am now very busy over summer break, so I will not be able to post as much. With that out of the way, here is my review of The Complete Idiot's Guide To European History - Part 1.


Although I am not an idiot, I loved The Complete Idiot's Guide To European History. written by Nathan Barber, it is one of the best historical books that I have read. The book is dived into different parts, but I will not be using those parts, only what I have time to read.


Darting in the Later or High Middle Ages, the story climbs into descriptions of exciting and deadly events such as the Bubonic Plague (or Black Death) and The Hundred Years' War. The first part of chapter 1 also gives a brief and well-written overview of the Early Middle Ages and things like feudalism and chivalry.


Overall, you can learn much about European history, if you are an idiot or not. Many interesting facts are listed such as the real 116 year length of The Hundreds Years' War and extensive facts such as the glorification of Joan of Arc and more. The text allows readers to learn and review certain criteria, and would be perfect for students studying Europe.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

America The Story Of Us - Rebels

In this first blog post I will be reviewing and discussing the first episode of the American history series America The Story Of Us. This episode, "Rebels", paints a portrait of life from the early  British colonization of  America in Jamestown and Plymouth through the battles of Lexington and Concord.

The program is narrated by Liev Schreiber, who captures the feelings of the people in colonial America with his tone and powerful language. In the early part of the program he demonstrates this, talking about the colonial-Indian relationships. Showing the hardships and the cruelty of early life in the colonies and the complex alliance with northern Indian tribes.  

The timeline follows that from 1607, when English adventures land in Virginia and found the small settlement of Jamestown. Soon the timelines moves to the arrival of the first pilgrims and the Plymouth landing. Soon the thirteen colonies have come into shape, as Dutch merchants, Swedish settlers, and British adventure-seekers come to America and transform well-to-do towns into  bustling cities such as Boston, Charleston, and New York. Closing with pre-revolutionary events such as The Boston Massacre and The Boston Tea Party. Finally setting the stage for the revolution with "the shot that was heard around the world", the battles of Lexington and Concord.

On a scaled rating the program is brilliant and allows the viewer to understand that life in pre-revolutionary America was cultural, diverse, and troubled by British greed. Rotating around the coming revolutionary ideals (The Delectation Of Independence and Common Sense), the episode sets the stage for it's precedent, The American Revolution.