history? i don't know any

[FreeButtonBee]

Right, I would like to learn more about history.

I ditched History at 14 because frankly the curriculum seemed to be endless re-runs of the Great War, WWII etc which I had spent the previous 7 years doing and was thoroughly bored of. Plus it all seemed pretty irrelevant when living through the early 90s in NI...

I have read a lot of historical fiction and biographies etc but I feel like it's tricky to pull all the periods together. Like I didbn't realise that Elizabeth I was Henry VIII's daughter until I read Wolf Hall. And how does Cronwell link into Elizabeth?

Has anyone read a good historical overview-type book that puts different periods in context. I'd be interested in anything from a European or British perspective probably covering the past 500 years (I could probably manage without post the Great War tbh)? It doesn't need to be the most academic book ever but I am not interested in anything too populist.

Am I expecting too much? Alternatively, if there are 3 or 4 books that together would pull the major events together then that would also be great.

I just feel that I have all these characters from history roaming about in my head and I haven't a clue about their interconnections!

The Faber Book of Reportage. First hand accounts of significant events from a plague in Athens six thousands years ago, to some 1980s events. There may have been a more recent version, my copy is several years old.

How about A Little History of the World - written for children but popular with adults!

Alison Weir writes historical fiction and non-fiction; I have just finished her book about the wives of Henry VIII and it put loads of things into context for me very clearly. I'm following that with some Tudor fiction by Philippa Gregory which features the same people and is very enjoyable once you know the factual background.

Thanks guys; definitely some stuff to be getting along with. I really like the look of the Little History of the World.

This is good, very readable. Obviously only british history though. I really liked it as a timeline kind of thing. My degree is in history too, so have read a fair few books on the subject. I'm currently reading Stephen Clarke's 1000 Years of Annoying the French and although quite populist, is actually a good historical read too.

thanks for the extra ideas, Emse!