English podcasters Holland and Sandbrook have taken a most entertaining approach to some of history’s most famous heroes and evil villains ... although it should be said at the outset, that the word ‘history’ has been taken in a very loose sense. Among the subjects covered are Helen of Troy, a character from an ancient poem. She’s joined by a few other fictional figures, who are extremely well-known in popular culture. There’s also a goat owned by Captain James Cook. That goat, by the way, isn’t the only representative from the animal kingdom to be included in this volume. In fact, of the five mini-chapters, one covers heroic horses.
The more well-known heroes and villains range from Genghis Khan to Marie Antoinette, Walt Disney to Joan of Arc, SeiShonagon to Brian Jones. It’s rather an interesting and wide-ranging selection of people to discuss. You may not believe it, but our very own Harold Holt gets a guernsey. Holt’s achievements – and failures – have always taken a back seat to that last fateful swim. The authors do, however, provide an amusing and informative potted history of our 17th prime minister.
For a book with the words ‘51 Heroes and Villains’ in the title, it was curious seeing Lady Jane Grey’s inclusion, as really, she was neither; rather she was an unwilling pawn, a victim of men’s machinations to keep Queen Mary off the throne. Nevertheless, her story is worth reading. As are other stories.
Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba, who reigned for six decades in west-central Africa in the seventeenth century. She was a remarkable ruler, and almost single-handedly prevented Portugal from taking over and colonising her country. For Europeans, the idea of a female leader was terrifying because it went against the patriarchal sense of the natural order. But Nzinga was having none of that nonsense. A highly intelligent and practical woman, she saved her country, the Portuguese ultimately going home, tails between legs.
Speaking of resisting invaders, there’s also the story of Crazy Horse, the Lakota warrior who famously defeated General George Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876. Indigenous resistance has been, until relatively recently, construed by Western historians as barbaric, but how would you feel if someone rocked up to your town, decided it was theirs, and proceeded to displace you, maim or even kill you, to stop you resisting? Crazy Horse was a hero to his people, a villain to the US Cavalry.
What makes this book work is the easy mix of actual historical persons, characters from mythology, and a goodly number of exploits involving wildlife. All are treated with equal attention. Often the authors are asking whether someone is actually a hero or a villain. Consider Napoleon Bonaparte. He defeated his enemies and claimed large areas of Europe, making France a dominant power in the early nineteenth century, so a ‘hero’. But after his disastrous campaign in Russia, he became persona non grata and was forced into exile, so he became a ‘villain’.
All in all, this is a light-hearted approach to some fascinating figures. And while the fictional characters are deeply embedded in popular culture, the historical ones are very real indeed. The writing style is chatty, and liberally sprinkled with puns and witticisms. This is a book you can randomly dip into, to learn a little about some of the intriguing types who’ve gone before us and made some kind of impact, whether positive or negative. An enjoyable read.
