In those days agriculture, trade, and manufacturing were diversions
during the summer months; but the regular business of life was warfare
with the Danes, Scots, and Welsh. These foes of England could live
easily for years on oatmeal, sour milk, and cod's heads, while the
fighting clothes of a whole regiment would have been a scant wardrobe
for the Greek Slave, and after two centuries of almost uninterrupted
carnage their war debt was only a trifle over eight dollars. -from "The
Troublous Middle Ages" One of the most beloved humorists of the late
19th century, Bill Nye was forced, by his untimely death, to leave
unfinished his twisted history of England. But though he was able to
tweak the Brits only through the era of King Henry VIII, this 1896 book
is nevertheless a classic of historical satire, one that will delight
fans of such works as 1066 and All That. Profusely illustrated by the
witty cartoons of W. M. Goodes and A. M. Richards, Nye's cheeky humor as
he rampages through the storied past of the Sceptred Isle is as clever
as it is wily, demonstrating a shrewd understanding of human nature as
the driving force of history. American writer EDGAR WILSON "BILL" NYE
(1850-1896) also wrote Bill Nye's History of the United States, Bill Nye
and Boomerang, and Forty Liars and Other Lies.
