If reading history doesn’t make you want to swear like a mom with a red-wine hangover walking barefoot through a LEGO-filled living room, then you’re not reading the right history.
James Fell is imminently funny, irreverent and an expert on history. Real history, not the fairy tales we’ve been indoctrinated with over the years in school. He’s used to researching the darker side of history that no one talks about. He also likes to swear, a lot. ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY SH!T WENT DOWN is a collection of columns he wrote for each day of the year, beginning in 2000. It had bathos and pathos, it’s certainly a laugh as one looks at the absurdities of life and the evil people that live with.
Fell treats everyone with the distain or respect their actions deserve.
For each day of the year, from January 1st to December 31st, Fell describes something that happened on that day in the past. They include all manner of entries, including things like: a horse sitting in the house; an elephant being abused and killed; torture of human beings; public executions; slavery; colonisation by European countries; genocides; the development of vaccines; the discovery of antibiotics; the Christian Crusades; assassinations to ascend various thrones; the stabbing of Julius Caesar; Hitler’s atrocities; and much, much more. Fell picks randomly twelve dates, one for each month, and gives a brief summary of the entry for that date.
I love the piece about how our Founding Fathers were flawed, no matter how hard we try to portray them as gpdlike, “He said that peace should not be purchased at the price of chains and slavery, which was hypocritical as F*ck considering how many enslaves were in the room. Yep, those founding fathers…..remember the day MTV was launched, created by launching the “Second British Invasion”–the musical variety…..and what about the song ” Do They Know Its Christmas?” Well considering that the majority of Ethiopia are Christians, its bloody likely they did, and the third of the population who are Muslims probably don’t give a hoot…… what about the lyrics? The ones saying there wouldn’t be any snow in Africa? Snows there all the bloody time there, dipshits.
The Tea Party, A.K.A the American Taliban became a thing only after a month after President Obama assumed office, and Republicans made every effort to block Obama’s policies no matter what they were. For 8 years the racism festered like an infected wound, becoming a major contributor to the election of the blatantly racist and vocal Obama critic DonaldTrump to the presidency in 2016. Yeah, if you worship the golden calf known as Donald Trump, you probably will want to avoid this. Then again, you might. learn a thing or two. Either that or you’ll have a stroke.
Here are shortened clips that the book highlights. Shit happens. Every day.
* Ma West was sent to jail for ” corrupting the morals of young people ” with her Broadway play.
* When participation in the Hitler Youth became mandatory in Germany groups of teen “pirates” rebelled.
* Muhammed Ali refused to ‘drop bombs and bullets on brown people” in Vietnam.
* A dog sled relay carried life-saving medicine 774 miles through minus 50 degree temperatures to rescue children dying from diphtheria.
*The Dionne quintuplets were stolen by the Canadian government and displayed like zoo animals for profit.
* Indian Princess Noor Inayat Khan was one of the most successful spies against the Nazis in WWII.
* A children’s television show called Callou tortured parents for more than a decade….
Shit goes down every single day of the year, year after year. Sometimes it’s a battle that changes the course of history, other times it’s a life-saving medical advancement. Bravery is counter-balanced with cowardice. There is slavery snd there is self-sacrifice. History is replete with deeds both noble and despicable. But history serves not just as a warning; it also offers encouragement. Humanity is not an endless suck. There is inspiration to be found amidst the atrocities.
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY SH!T WENT DOWN will significantly expand your knowledge of world history in the most hilarious way possible
