Bill Nye's History of England

In those days agriculture, trade, and manufacturing were diversions during the summer months; but the regular business of life was warfare with the Danes, Scots, and Welsh. These foes of England could live easily for years on oatmeal, sour milk, and cod's heads, while the fighting clothes of a whole regiment would have been a scant wardrobe for the Greek Slave, and after two centuries of almost uninterrupted carnage their war debt was only a trifle over eight dollars. -from "The Troublous Middle Ages" One of the most beloved humorists of the late 19th century, Bill Nye was forced, by his untimely death, to leave unfinished his twisted history of England. But though he was able to tweak the Brits only through the era of King Henry VIII, this 1896 book is nevertheless a classic of historical satire, one that will delight fans of such works as 1066 and All That. Profusely illustrated by the witty cartoons of W. M. Goodes and A. M. Richards, Nye's cheeky humor as he rampages through the storied past of the Sceptred Isle is as clever as it is wily, demonstrating a shrewd understanding of human nature as the driving force of history. American writer EDGAR WILSON "BILL" NYE (1850-1896) also wrote Bill Nye's History of the United States, Bill Nye and Boomerang, and Forty Liars and Other Lies.