Fake History: Ten Great Lies and How They Shaped the World

Description

Lincoln did not believe all men were created equal. The Aztecs were not slaughtered by the Spanish Conquistadors. And Churchill was not the man that people love to remember. Taking the ten biggest lies from history and looking at the people who propagated them, social commentator and expert historian Otto English shows how our past has been bent and broken, used and abused over time to fit the ends of some of the world's most powerful people. Whether it's Donald Trump, Kim Jong-Il or Aung San Suu Kyi, the media or people in your newsfeed, Fake History explores the ways in which everything we think we know is shaped and sold back to us as 'lessons from history'. From creating nation myths and forging 1984-style imaginary wars to how apologies can alter perceptions and how we can even dramatically shape our own image, Otto English sets out to redress the balance and to reclaim history from those who seek to pervert it. Fake History is an alternative history of the world that you weren't taught in school. Taking the ten biggest lies from history and looking at the people who propagated them, social commentator and expert historian Otto English shows how our past has been bent and broken, used and abused over time to fit the ends of some of the world's most powerful people.

Otto English is the pen name of author and journalist Andrew Scott. From 2010, Scott began writing and tweeting about politics and history, gaining attention for his itinerant blog, he moved into journalism and has since written for Politico, the Independent, New Statesman, Daily Mail and many other publications. He has always been fascinated by the writing of history and the creation of political narratives, and has spoken about them on BBC News, BBC Radio 4 and LBC. He lives in South East London with his wife and two children.

'A brilliant and important book ... Five Stars!' -- Mark Dolan, talkRADIO 'An important new book' * Daily Express * 'A wonderful dissection of some of history's heroes and villains who are unfairly castigated or wrongly glorified' * Scotsman *