On This Day in History Sh!t Went Down

by James Fell

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

On This Day in History Sh!t Went Down is a direct, often hilarious, always honest, day-by-day collection of historical commentary collected by James Fell. Released 10th Oct 2023 by Penguin Random House on their Ballantine imprint, it's 432 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links throughout.

The author has a vast (well deserved) following of folks who tune in to his blog and social media posts to get the low-down on history, political commentary, and wryly accurate sarcasm on human nature and the almost mind-boggling stuff they get up to regularly. 

He swears a lot, admittedly appropriately, but undeniably often and creatively. The historical tidbits cover quite a long period of time, there were historical events from a few centuries B.C.E. right up to the present day (relatively speaking). 

It's a no-holds-barred bare knuckles historical fracas, and it's really genuinely funny. 

Five stars for making history funny (even some of the really tragic bits). It would be an exceptional choice for public library acquisition. It would also make an excellent choice for school library acquisition, except that in the current puritanical climate in the USA, it's likely already banned and the subject of a crapload of challenges. It's not even a little bit "fine people on both sides". On the first page, he states for the record that Nazis are bad. The rest of the book carries on in a similar vein. This would also make a fine choice for personal reading or gifting to history interested/nerdy friends.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.