On This Day in History Sh!t Went Down

By: James Fell

Narrated by: Kelli Tager, James Fell

Length: 17 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

The hilarious, irreverent guide to world history you never knew you needed, featuring 366 profanity-filled tales of triumph and terror, science and stupidity, courage and cowardice

Those who cannot remember the past . . . need a history teacher who says “f*ck” a lot.

Nazis are bad. The worst kind of bad. There are no very fine people among them. If you disagree, you won’t like this book.

Still here? Cool. You are about to receive an education unlike any you’ve previously experienced. In this uproarious and informative tour from ancient times to the modern day and everything in between, James Fell, the self-proclaimed “sweary historian,” reveals a past replete with deeds both noble and despicable. Throughout the book, he provides insightful analysis of all the sh!t that went down. Behold!

• In 1927, actress Mae West was sent to jail for “corrupting the morals of youth” with her first Broadway play, titled Sex. She served the time and followed up with a play about homosexuality.

• In 1419, church reformers in Prague, vexed over their leader having been burned at the stake, defenestrated city leaders from a high window. They died, because those kinds of Czechs don’t bounce.

• If you were in the province of Shaanxi in China on January 23, 1556, then it sucked to be you. It wasn’t the biggest earthquake ever, but it was the deadliest day in history.

• In 362 B.C.E., a battle between Greek city states debilitated both sides, making the region ripe for conquering by Phillip of Macedon—aka Alex the Great’s dad—and spelling the end of Greek democracy.

• In 1343, the husband of noblewoman Jeanne de Clisson was unjustly executed by the king of France. Furious, Jeanne became a pirate, selling all her possessions to fund a fleet and exact revenge.

• During World War II, three Dutch teens used their beauty to lure Nazis into the forest with the promise of a good time, then out came the guns and BLAM! They sent them off to Nazi hell.

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. Across the ages, over 100 billion humans have lived and died. Some were motivated by greed, others by generosity. Many dedicated themselves to the art of killing, while others were focused on curing. There have been grave mistakes, and moments of greatness. And that is why . . . sh!t happens. Every day.

©2023 James Fell (P)2023 Random House Audio

Juvenile

Could’ve been really interesting, but aims for the 10-13 year-old-just-learning-curse-words audience.
All the pointless F-bombs and the way-too-cool vernacular wear thin quickly and render the history lessons tedious.
File this under “R-rated YA.”

I I just laved listening to the reader.

There is a rhythm to this book filled with interesting stories none more than 500 words. I couldn't stop listening and laughing.

Not for easily triggered snowflakes

To paraphrase Stephen Colbert, reality tends to have a liberal bias. No wonder anti-truthers don’t like this book. But if you can handle reality and quite a bit of cursing, this book is a great read. It moves along at a great clip and held my attention throughout.

Well played

Light- informative and told with an interesting perspective. The cussing made it appear as if told by a friend over a beer.
Thanks.

Excellent book and terrific narrator!

As an online reader of Mr. Fell's history lessons, I eagerly awaited the audio form of his book. When I first learned of the choice of a female narrator, I was somewhat skeptical. I just finished listening to the book, and I should not have been the least bit concerned. Kelli Tager gave an outstanding performance, reading in such a calm, soothing yet meaningfully emotional manner. The material in the book is both interesting and informational with big doses of humor and insight. Readers need to be aware, however, that the title of the book is a big clue to the style of the writer. He calls himself 'the sweary historian,' and as such, he does not shy away from using a colorful (and sometimes inventive) vocabulary in describing significant and sometimes little-known events in history. He also does not hold back on his opinions, both positive and negative, of the people and events he discusses. In my opinion, his style and commentary make history come alive. I highly recommend this book for those who don't feel the need to have history bleached to a colorless blur.

Rad.

Fucking rad. (In the spirit of the colorful book prose). Very entertaining. I shit you not.

Unfortunate

The only thing I enjoyed was the narrator and those few historical moments that did not end up in the authors incessant over the top ideological leftest views. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME!

Lot of misinformation

Read the review titled Unfortunate. Great concept ruined by Mr Fells personal interpretation, which is hatred of capitalism, religion, armed conflict, and the United States. So save your money. His use of extreme profanity allows me to use one of his favorite quotes. Mr Fell I believe you also are a piece of S**T. Instead of spewing your hate of everything American, I could only hope you go back to your place of birth and do something positive for all of your indigenous peoples.

Could have been a good book

The premise of having a history book highlighting something interesting that happened on each day of the year throughout history is a good idea. The premise of doing it while adding in way over-the-top vulgarity is a bad idea especially when also incorporating far left editorial commentary throughout the book. Don’t waste your time or money on this one.

Boomer history

Bragging about being in “Facebook jail” should’ve been my first clue into how this book was going to go. The stories themselves are interesting but the author taking every opportunity to refer to liberals as snowflakes, tying random things to Donald trump, interjecting their thoughts on vaccine mandates mid story, or their inability to mention Christianity without having some remark to say about it but conveniently doesn’t keep the same energy whenever referencing Islam in the same regard (bacha bazi). It’s a weird attempt at trying to come off edgy but in reality makes everyone just look around the table and go okay anyways.