The Mammoth Book of How It Happened: Eyewitness Accounts of Great Historical Moments from 2700 BC to AD 2005

by Jon E. Lewis (Editor)

The Mammoth Book of How It Happened is a superb collection that provides first-hand accounts in the form of journals, diaries, news reports, and the like. This book offers historical writings of the most monumental events of our time—military and otherwise.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Collections, Reference

512 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Jon E. Lewis is a historian and writer, whose books on history and military history are sold worldwide. He is also editor of many The Mammoth Book of anthologies, including the bestselling On the Edge and Endurance and Adventure.

He holds graduate and postgraduate degrees in history. His work has appeared in New Statesman, the Independent, Time Out and the Guardian. He lives in Herefordshire with his partner and children.

From: Constable & Robinson

Reviews

[Welwyn Wilton Katz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read the first several hundred pages in detail, but I have to admit boredom as the author reached eras where history has been vastly written about. I admit to prefering history on or before the medieval period. This book is not an ordinary history book, but more an "I was there and this is how it happened" collection of anecdotes. As such, if you didn't know something and are deeply interested in the subject and you wanted to know what it was like to be there - if there was nothing in the book on it at all, or much too little, you were disappointed; and if you already knew all you wanted to know about it because you were there, that part of the book might be wasted on you. A book like this is a very good idea, however. Perhaps it would have been better in several volumes, with a lot more anecdotes from each period. Only two pages are devoted to the Black Death, for example, as opposed to 14 to Hurricane Katrina. There were plenty of Diarists and letters to choose from during the Black Death and earlier. The Greeks and Romans were highly literate societies, as were many of their foes; and before that there were other literate societies, as my favourite piece in the whole book shows: "A schoolboy's Day" from Sumer in around 2000 BC, the first anecdote in the whole book (and only 700 years after the titled time period). It simply cannot be claimed that there were no Great Historical Moments from 2700 BC to the rebuilding of the Palace of Babylon in c. 600 BC. For this reason I cannot give more than two stars to the book. It's a great idea poorly constructed.

[J · Rating 1 out of 5]

A well throughout idea and experiment, but the choice of writings falls basic understanding of history. Horribly selected views on events while also leaving out some of the most important events in human history because of the authors own prejudice view.

[Rowland · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed sitting down and reading about ancient Britain as seen through the eyes of translated authors. However, I started to lose interest when it came to the horrors of 19th century Britain seen through the eyes of, e.g., Friedrich Engels. Have to play down what could have been a five-star rating for a version that stopped at the end of the Napoleonic wars. It thus gets only three, but there are still 375 pages of pre-Engels Brtiain, so highly recommended for that alone!

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really is mammoth - I'll be reading it off and on for some time!

It has some very interesting first-hand accounts of life in different countries, eras and reigns. Fascinating!