by Anura Guruge
on January 17, 2023
I, alas, know more about papal history than I know about British history, European history or World History. I never got to study history in school past the age of 12! Yes. No, it wasn’t because there was anything wrong with me. It was THE SYSTEM — (I assume it would now be called the ‘Old’) British Schooling System. In those days of yore, & we are talking 1950s, 1960s & early 1970s, around the age of 12 you opted to follow ‘Arts’ or ‘Science’ (with the school occasionally letting people know that they have made the wrong choice & should switch).
IF you chose ‘science’ as I did then for the next 6 years all you did was math & science related subjects & some languages: e.g., English, a second language, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, physics, chemistry, biology, zoology etc. No history, no geography, no civics — just languages & science.
Well, at 12 I was still in Ceylon. They didn’t teach us British history in Ceylon. They taught us just Ceylon history. And that was that. That was the end of my formal education in history. Everything else, ever since, I have learnt through reading & my own research (particularly so when it came to papal history).
There are reams & reams I have NO CLUE about when it comes to British history. Yes, shame on I. I, now in my dotage, just don’t have the time to rectify that.
I think (& I can’t be sure) that I picked up this small, thin (a classic ‘Penguin‘) 208-page paperback at our local supermarket’s book swap bin. When I saw the title I knew what it was about. That much, i.e., ‘1066‘ & ‘Conquest’, I did know.
It was an absorbing, elucidating & informative read. David Howarth has an interesting style. It is economical (something I envy), comes across sometimes as stilted BUT it ends up being easy to assimilate. He has the knack of not getting lost in the weeds. Yes, I would have liked more, but in the end it proved to be Goldilocks.
If you like history you might want to give this book a try. I sure enjoyed it & learnt a bunch.
