Humorous History: An Illustrated Collection of Wit & Irony from the Past

by A.G. Mogan

History should not always be so serious. For it is but the record of the public and official acts of human beings. It is our object, therefore, to humanize our history and deal with people past and present; people who ate and possibly drank; people who were born, flourished, and died. And if we cannot laugh at ourselves, then we are condemned to repeat the very same deeds of the past.

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor, History, Comedy, Amazon, Ebooks

118 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 19, 2017

About the author

A. G. MOGAN has always loved history and the personalities that were born of bygone eras. Her interest for the world and its people fueled her passion for human analytics. She’s used her knowledge to analyze people and their behavior throughout her adult career, including using her in-depth research to craft poignant biographical novels that readers eagerly devour.


When not studying great historical figures or long-lost stories from the past, she can be found at her home in Europe, enjoying the spoils of a wonderfully ordinary family life.

Reviews

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting

A good deal of fun stuff in here. I would have given it higher marks but it had grammar flaws and in one case it left off half a sentence. I enjoyed the pictures it had with the stories too.

[Bob Cantrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Same old, same old

Although there was very little new in this book it was entertaining just for the drawings. When you get a book like this you hope to get some new insights into the lives of historical figures. While this book does have such insights they aren't very new to some. However, if you don't know a lot about History and it's cast of characters and believe me they are characters then this book will get you started on the path to enjoying History.

[Mimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite entertaining, and exactly what it said on the tin.

[Réal Laplaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Humorous History is the kind of book that once you start, you just want to finish. And you can do it in one-sitting. Mogan takes interesting and well-known characters from the pages of history and through witty and satirical anecdotes, she relates facts we never knew about them - some of them quite fascinating, like the British soldier during WWI, who had his gun aimed at an injured German soldier, and compelled by his humanity, he spared the German's life. It turns out that the person he spared, went on to become the impetus behind the next World War - Adolf Hitler himself. Bizarre, a little shocking, and somewhat humorous, this rendering presents some historical tidbits that would probably rough-up the edges of contemporary history books.

[Richard Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Interesting, well-written

I love history, especially when it is well-written or told. This really short compilation of facts is worth reading. Many people will not have heard of these facts before, and may be motivated to find others. If you think history is boring because of your experience in school, you should really start with this.

[Netanella · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm adding a star for the cute illustrations, which I enjoyed the most. The book is a collection of short factoids of famous historical figures. Most of these stories, however, were not very humorous or ironic. Some were WTF moments (Attila the Hun), a few were negative accounts written by hostile authors (Suetonius' take on JC's laurel wreath), and some were downright in poor taste (Caligula). However, there were some fun stories (Henry VIII's asswiping nobles, for example) that would make for neat conversation with the right crowd. This book is definitely not for everyone.

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting..

[Janis Lauzon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

This is a great read for those like me who love tidbits and trivia about history. An easy read, but thoroughly enjoyable. Worth the time spent!

[Bobbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was quite an interesting book

I really enjoyed this book! A fun way to.learn about history. For example, did you know that one of the French kings had a personal derriere wiper? (I guess he couldn't or wouldn't want to wipe himself. He had a title too. Check it out for an entertaining and fun read

[Tim Shepard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written

I have long been a fan of odd bits of historical trivia. This book had a lot of stories I was not aware of. It is well written and researched. Many will find some of the stories humorous. Well worth reading.

[Bettye McKee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting tidbits with awesome illustrations

This book contains some interesting tidbits from history which, while not particularly humorous, will inhabit the Trivia compartment of your brain.

However, the real treat lies in the delightful illustrations.

8

[Denise Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

You learn something new everyday

I would recommended this short book to anyone who likes history, its full of quirky facts that you may not already know. Some of them humorous, some of them strange and some of them unbelievable (Hitler). Well worth half an hour of anyone's time.

[Gangasagar Patil · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun coffee book

[Konnilaree Sanders · Rating 5 out of 5]

History shared in a fun and entertaining way. Great Read.

[Phyllis H. Pajka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very short and very weird. I did not know some of the thing listed and I did not care for some of the things listed but it was interesting none the less.

[Anita Hargreaves · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun

I learnt a lot about the past and considering there was only one tale I knew, there was a fun element to be ad and made me laugh out loud. Great illustrations.

[WVBunny · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read.

Great book.
Very interesting facts that are not in the history books.
A good read and a lot of giggles.

[Bryan Gwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting tidbits

Really enjoyed reading tidbits about history. It is interesting because it personalize the historical characters from only books to real life scenarios.

[Bonnie Dale Keck · Rating 5 out of 5]

not kindle unlimited, pretty sure it's permafree, but anyway wanted to read it because somewhat the same type as the Captivating History books etc that I read

[Patricia (Irishcharmer) Yarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inquisitive Minds want to know!!

Enjoyed the romp thru unknown little tidbits of obscure history lessons most of us didn't know!! But I would like to do a comparison on just a couple of the obscure history lesson that can be almost mirrored in today's realm of disbelief!! So let's take this:
King Henry VIII had courtiers that actually "wiped his butt" and demanded absolute loyalty! I immediately thought of Biil Barr and his absolute loyalty to DJT(instead of the American people and the constitution he swore to protect) . So, he's serving as a courtier to the Pres. Just like Sir Wm Compton did to Henry,as all he did was literally wipe the kings'butt. And he,like Barr,was given special positions in the Kings'Realm and made millions!! Then there was Sir Henry Norris -he too made a bucket load of money from being given lucrative positions thru out the Realm. But was later tried for treason to the King because he was becoming disloyal -( he was beheaded) -as today's treasonous bunch are going to be/are already-"pardoned!!--Flynn,Manafort,Stone--is this ringing any bells?? Then lastly there's "poor" Sir Anthony Denny!! He served the King by wiping(remember now,this is literally)wiping the King's big ok behind!
til the royal died. No mention of what kind of work he got then --probably shovelling manure somewhere on a farm or a ranch!!
Now,onto my next comparison of then and now.......
Cromwell...well known,well decorated --political leader of Commonwealth of England,of Scotland and of Ireland! Made buckets of money!! He's also the one that signed the death warrant for King Charles I, because he didn't like him,didn't respect him,nor did he trust him!!
He was very controversial -in the history of the British Isles he was considered a regicidinal Dictator,and by W.Churchill a military Dictator(or he liked to believe he was).And by Trotsky -a class revolutionary.
3yrs after his death,he was exhumed and put on trial and found guilty of regicide among other things. He was given a posthumous execution. He was put on a "spike"--where have we heard THAT term used?!!--Lindsey,Moscow Mitch,Guilliani,Mulvaney --and several other minions --
It was an eye opener for sure,and I liked the book!! (I think it's taken me longer to get this review done than it did to read the book😀😀)--P/

[Kenya Starflight · Rating 2 out of 5]

This looked like it would be an entertaining book -- history doesn't always have to be dry facts about stuffy historical figures, but can actually be really entertaining when told right. And people were crazy and weird long before the Internet came around, so of course history would be full of strange people, right? Unfortunately, while some of the stories in "Humorous History" were entertaining and amusing, some were far more disturbing or gross than actually funny.

If you enjoy gross or sexual humor -- such as the fact that Henry VII employed special noblemen to wipe his behind, Catherine the Great was rumored to have sex with a horse, or Attila the Hun died of a nosebleed on his own wedding night -- you might get a chuckle out of these stories. But for the most part the stories are worthy of a chuckle or two, but hardly laugh-out-loud funny or ironic. And some of them are actually a little horrifying, such as the story of a man letting a WWI soldier escape harm only to later discover that soldier was Hitler.

And as another reviewer pointed out, it's hard to verify the veracity of these stories when there's no sources cited and no bibliography listed. Some of us want to be sure these stories are true before repeating them to our friends and looking like idiots, after all...

The illustrations are at least entertaining, though some of them look more like clipart swiped from a Google search than anything else. And I hate to complain too much about a free e-book, but... I hoped to get a laugh and learn something from this volume, and I'm not sure it managed to do either for me. At least it was short -- I finished it in an hour...

[Serena]

This is a fun, quick read for anyone who enjoys hearing about the parts of history not normally taught in K-12. Unfortunately, it is presented in extremely brief vignettes without much context. The same as those historical fact sites that have links on Facebook.
If you want to learn a few interesting facts so that you will have something to fill a void at the next cocktail or dinner party, this book will at least provide you with a good place to start your research. If you find yourself early for an appointment, this is a good book to have on your phone or kindle® because the pieces are short and mostly disconnected making it easy to put down and pick back up again the next time you find yourself waiting.

[Barbara Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains roughly one hundred pages of humorous anecdotes. They cover every period from ancient times through World War II. Some of them are potty humor like the tale about wiping Henry VIII's bottom. Others are more serious like the story about Private Tandy narrowly missing killing Adolf Hitler before he rose to power. There are pirate stories about Lady Ching and tales of artistic giants like Shakespeare and Mozart. Political figures like Churchill, Stalin, Caesar, Alexander the Great and Peter the Great are not exempt.

The book does contain some formatting editing errors which need to be addressed. All in all, this little volume is a fun, coffee table book for those who take their humor seriously.

[William Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite enjoyable little book, good as a bathroom read, although I burned through it in less than a day. Almost every humorous fact was something I didn't know, about a popular figure in history.

Favorite part was learning about conditions during Caligula's 1 year mandatory mourning period, upon the death of his sister.
"During this time, everyone in the empire was forbidden to dine with his family, laugh or take a bath. The penalty for transgression was death."

Well that sounds worse than the current restrictions!

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short but really fascinating book about various people in history and rather unusual things about them such as:

The guys responsible for cleansing Henry VIII's 'bottom.'
The shortest recorded war in history.
Churchill's sense of humor (when he was drunk!)
A Chinese prostitute who ended up running a group of 76,000 pirates.
How an important man in history was dug up after he died and put on trial.
The War of the Bucket.

And various other topics. Unusual and funny.

[Sandra Burns · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting facts

Some of these, were interesting. Some were odd. Worth the read. Only thing I did not like, was the author thinking the elephant killed by the bomb, was funny. Could have left that out. IMHO.

[F · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pictures were rather small and hard to see without constantly enlarging them. The stories range from the very entertaining to the okay and not all of them are verifiably true [to the author's credit she admits this]. All in all a pleasant little [quite literally] read.

[George Marshall · Rating 2 out of 5]

The content was interesting enough, but the work was littered with typographical errors.

[Barry Huddleston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny at times

It was okay and I did get a chuckle from time to time. If you are a fan of sex and potty humor, you will enjoy this book.

[Laura Calla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amusing but too short both lengthwise & on details.