Oof. I admit to having had higher hopes for this one. Terry Jones is a favourite of mine. His illness and death was as keenly felt as if we were related. The topic in this one is tackling the sentiment that the view on barbarian peoples was slanted due to the domination and scorched earth policy of imperial Rome.
It's over four episodes, which reflect the original TV series, on the Celts, the Goths, the Persians the Huns. Of course, this isn't a historical reference book - it's an accompanying book of a television programme, created and presented by a celebrated humourist. So, while some insights are interesting, this is very light entertainment and not deep. Some of the sub-topics on each of the peoples are as short as only a few paragraphs long.
Not being an historical reference book it does commit a couple of other deadly sins. The first is that in the effort to push away their self-perceived slant from Roman history, they went too far the other way, usually in a very simplistic, poorly referenced, manner. Perhaps it would lose its edge as an entertainment piece but the approach is less than scientific as the authors try to win the reader over how these peoples were actually a whole lot better than the Romans ever were. Strangely, while continuously pointing out that Romans and Catholics erased a lot of barbarians' written history, and how the Roman authors wrote inane or unfactual documents, more often than not they used those very same authors, particularly Julius Caesar and Plutarch as their reference.
The second sin is, even more unfortunate, the lack of historical context as many features are clearly looked at with modern eyes and in the modern context which, in a historical book (light entertainment or not) is simply inane. More disappointing is the lack of broad humour. As there are two authors signing on, it's not clear who wrote what. There are a few quips but it stops at that. This is, if anything, a real let-down. Most chapters include some sort of anecdotal evidence on some historical figure but it's mostly devoid of real interest - you'd be better served elsewhere if you were looking for deep knowledge.
As it is, the book is quite light reading and perhaps a prod to explore some of its issues in more in-depth books. Unfortunately there's little substance and quite an un-scientific approach with only the slightest hint of Terry's humour. In all, an unfortunate edition that perhaps would fare better on screen.
The book on medieval times is somewhat similar. Now, there are eight episodes, each dedicated to a strata or occupation (Peasant, Monk, Damsel, Minstrel, Knight, Philosopher (Alchemist), Outlaw, King). Strangely despite this the book is almost one hundred pages shorter than the barbarians one. The premise is the same: they state that "medieval" like "barbaric" has a negative connotation and propose to give the reader a different view.
However, and again, there's very little depth here, with anecdotes on historical figures like Chaucer, Robin Hood (?) and Henry VIII, and various trivia and tidbits - honestly, at times it reads like a "fun" book for young teens. The disappointment continues with the apparent lack of Terry's wit, while pretty much going through the same lack of references of the other book. While the barbarian book also tried to give a full scope western and eastern people, here the focus is very much anglocentric, thus becoming needlessly narrow, to almost razor-thin levels of knowledge.
In all, quite a disappointment.
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