About book A Treasury Of Royal Scandals: The Shocking True Stories Of History's Wickedest, Weirdest, Most Wanton Kings, Queens, Tsars, Popes, And Emperors (2001)
What an intriguing read this turned out to be. Sometime last year while I was going to college I skipped a day (one of many days when I skipped) and I went to Goodwill on a Friday for their weekly 50% off sale to see if I could score any good reads and I found this one on the top shelf.Unfortunately I'm still trying to figure out why it took me over a year to read it, I mean I love the cover, the title and the summary both hold promises of a delightful read but no. I picked it up many times with the intentions to start it but it wasn't until last month that I actually got around to reading it.What I liked most about the book apart from it offering up some very interesting and some very perverted details about the royal families was that the book didn't just center on the royal families of England and France it encompassed all the European royal families and let me tell you they're a rather colourful bunch of families and talk about inbreeding!Since this is my first time reading anything by the author I was pleasantly surprised by how much I ended up liking the way he used historical facts while making the book entertaining for the reading to make it easy to read. I think the reason that a lot of people stay away from non-fiction titles about the aristocracy and history in general because the books tend to be written in such a dry, heavy manner that doesn't allow for the casual reader to enjoy the words on the pages.Luckily, this one is full of puns an some very inappropriate comments about the kings and queens of old. Honestly they weren't the type of people whom you would want to call a friend let alone family in those days since there were assassinations, be headings and forced marriages to deal with at every twist and turn. Truly some of the kings and queens were completely off their rockers. Fortunately the inbreeding, assassinations, be-headings and all the other ugly stuff are no longer a facet of modern royalty (for the most part) because, if we had to deal with some of the royals from the past we'd be screwed worse than we are now. While I read the book I learned a lot and I had fun doing it too. Then again I'm a history buff so I find this stuff entertaining all the time but for those unfamiliar with this type of book, and the book can be picked up an put down easily and it made me feel like I would be lost if I had to set it down because of how it was written and I had a lot of laugh out loud moments while I read it.Overall, I highly recommend this to those with a penchant for history and those with a sense of humour as well as those just wanting to read about the royal scandals. Kim Kardashian, Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears have nothing on the scandals in this book. I'm looking forward to reading the other books that the author has written that follow this same topic as this one.
“ A Treasury of Royal Scandals, The Shocking True Stories of History’s Wickedest, Weirdest, Most Wanton Kings, Queens, Tsars’, Popes, and Emperors” by Michael Farquhar, published by Penguin Books.Category – History/Scandals Publication Date – May 01, 2001If one is looking for some history that is part comedy, part tragedy, and part stupid this book will fit any and all of those categories. Most of these stories you definitely did not study in high school and probably not in college. These true stories range from the Roman era to Edwardian, England.Although most of these stories are of the tragic variety, they are filled with stupidity to the umpteenth degree. It is very difficult to believe that the populace could be so taken in as to let these Kings, Queens, etc, get away with (literally) murder while they lived in abject poverty. One must remember though that they were uneducated and brought up to believe in the absolute power of the ruler.There was the unbelievable extravagance of these monarchs that included land, jewels, clothing, and food. There was infighting among the royal families that led to imprisonment and beheadings. It was not unusual for all members of the royal families to be involved in extramarital affairs, and most times these affairs were known and tolerated. The Catholic Church was far from innocent as many of the Popes of the Church fathered illegitimate children. It was not unusual for one to gain the highest honor of the Church through monetary gifts, collusion, or even murder.The stories are varied and interesting. The book can be picked up and put down without worrying about losing the trend of the story. It gives the reader a different slant on history, and at the same time provides a touch of comedy that proves entertaining and informative reading.
Do You like book A Treasury Of Royal Scandals: The Shocking True Stories Of History's Wickedest, Weirdest, Most Wanton Kings, Queens, Tsars, Popes, And Emperors (2001)?
There are some very interesting histories in this book, but I do feel like it is aimed more towards high school students than real lovers of historical volumes. The chapters are easy to read and some of them seem a little too short and don't give the reader a full understanding of whom the chapter is focused on. I also could have done without the pope section, there were a few good tidbits here and there but mostly forgettable. I did enjoy the book, though, it had good stories about several monarchies and wasn't too overwhelming with its information.
—Kristin Vaskie
A very interesting collection of scandals from all royal bloodlines. Some are tragic and some are funny. My favorite is the one about the wedding in Russia that had to consummated on a bed of ice.
—Chris
Man, I loved this book when I found it. I was like.. 14 or so. And of course, most of these scandals are about sex, gays and drinking. I thought they were the most scandalous things I'd ever heard. I brought these stories to my history teachers to impress them. Some of them let me tell stories from it to enliven a boring class about whatever historical figure we happened to be talking about that day... a significantly edited story that took out most of the good stuff, but nonetheless.Anyway, this is good, relaxing, pick it up and put it down, on the toilet, in the hammock, wind down before bed reading.Enjoy!
—Kelly
