Book Review: The Rest is History
Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook are a pair of erudite and entertaining British historians who host the very popular podcast The Rest is History. Episodes cover a kaleidoscope of events and people in historical times spanning the ancient world to the modern day. Tom’s areas of special interest are the classical and early medieval worlds while Dominic’s is post World War Two Britain.
Together they banter back and forth to weave tales of high drama. Their unique talents are winkling out quirky and humorous details about historical figures and events. Often these tales resonate with some aspect of our contemporary world, making history tangible. In short - they make history fun. Tom and Dominic were on tour last year to Australia and New Zealand where they visited Auckland, maybe you were lucky enough to see them. They have been interviewed by Jesse Mulligan on RNZ.
One fascinating series in the podcast is the Fall of the Aztecs (episodes 384-391) which is based on the book, Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs by Camilla Townsend. Equally fascinating is the series Rise of the Nazis (episodes 295-298), and Nazis in Power (episodes 404-410). Their descriptions of the principal personalities spark the imagination and are often hilarious. Hitler and the Nazi party will ‘make Germany great again’. Building up to the Night of the Long Knives sees Hitler checking in and out of hotels in spa towns, which reminds Tom of a Wes Anderson movie. This series is based on the exhaustively researched books about the Third Reich by Richard J Evans and A Social History of the Third Reich by Richard Grunberger. The latest episodes in the podcast are about Lord Byron, in acknowledgement of the 200th anniversary of his birth on 19th April.
The Rest is History: History’s Most Curious Questions Answered is the official book from their podcast. The following sample of chapter titles gives you a flavour of the contents: Top 10 Eunuchs in History, Tudor Succession Season Two, Rasputin’s Autopsy, How Does a Seventeenth-Century Cameroonian Slave end up as a Russian General?, The Ghosts of Christmases Past, The World Cup of Kings and Queens. This is a book you can pick up and put down, easily read a few chapters, and enjoy their humour and passion for history.