Selected Product:
| Wicked History Of The World
Hardcover
Edition: 1
Author: Terry Deary
Publisher: Scholastic Reference
Release Date: 2006-09-01
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
ISBN-10: 0439877865
ISBN-13: 9780439877862
List Price: $10.99
Average Customer Rating:
   | |
The Angry Aztecs and the Incredible Incas (Horrible Histories Collections)
ISBN-10: 043996802X
ISBN-13: 9780439968027
List Price:$11.61
The Groovy Greeks AND the Rotten Romans (Horrible Histories Collections)
ISBN-10: 0439973325
ISBN-13: 9780439973328
List Price:$11.61
Rotten Rulers (Horrible Histories Special)
ISBN-10: 0439959365
ISBN-13: 9780439959360
List Price:$12.81
Awful Egyptians (Horrible Histories)
ISBN-10: 1407104209
ISBN-13: 9781407104201
List Price:$8.00
The Frightful First World War and the Woeful Second World War (Horrible Histories Collections)
ISBN-10: 0439973317
ISBN-13: 9780439973311
List Price:$11.20
|
To use our price comparison to get the cheapest price, please click on the "Find the Cheapest Price" button located above for Wicked History Of The World by Terry Deary (ISBN-10: 0439877865, ISBN-13: 9780439877862).
At this time we have not yet written a review for Wicked History Of The World by Terry Deary (ISBN-10: 0439877865, ISBN-13: 9780439877862). Please continue to keep checking back to this page as we are constantly adding reviews.
Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com
In the best book ever written to prove history teachers wrong, pester parents and disgust grandmothers, you will find out the truth about the Rules of War and meet fifty of the most vicious villains of all time in a bonus feature pull-out. Want to know... --The ghastly fate of Captain Cook? --What smelly sport was played by Samurai warriors? --Who tried to kill her enemies with a cake made from poisoned bath water? ...then let The Wicked History of the World be your guide. History with the nasty bits left in!
a terrible, horrid book
| Customer Rating: | This is a terrible book. Let's start with, "Ivan the Terrible had a nasty hobby as a child: he liked to blind dogs and then drop them from a 60-metre tower....then he ran down to watch them die in agony. As an adult, he carried a wooden pole with metal spikes to lash out at people who annoyed him. One day he lashed out at his own son and killed him.
Then there is talk about drinking the blood of a french christian priest, and killing a good christian woman who the villagers thought was worshipping the devil.
My son really liked the part where it said the Aztecs believed the tears of children made the rain come down and have the corn grow better. They took children to a cave and blocked the entrance until they starved to death. The more the children cried, the more rain they'd have.
Even though this history may be accurate, it isn't something that a 10 year old (or 14 year old) should be reading about...they can get enough violence on tv or a video game.
I am so sorry I bought this book. |
Bought for my nieces & nephews but had to read cover to cover first!
| Customer Rating: | First of all, yes this book is gory, its history for goodness sake and fun history at that. This book is most definitely for kids, unless you have an unusually sensitive child. Parents wake up; sometime around age 7 kids crave gore. I remember that age vividly as we would all swap stories about the tidbits we'd learned of medieval torture practices or what "ring around the rosy" reeeally means. I was a sheltered kid by the way, I wasn't allowed to see anything rated over G till i was 10 and if i said "dang" i had to apologize for cursing, thus I say to those reviews, which state "not for kids," LIGHTEN UP! If they made a toy guillotine kit for kids every child would want one. Also, learning about our actual past is far more healthy an activity than teaching your child that say that fashion makes up their self-worth. (Clothes used to be considered a "boring gift" by kids and now i hear 5 year olds shunning other five year olds for their lack of designer styles or for being "fat") Kids have always played violent games (this wasn't newly introduced with video games) cowboys and indians or war were common games in the past and no one batted an eye.
This book ups the ante by being educating and encouraging an interest in history WITHOUT glorifying violence. In fact the book emphasizes that we all run the dangers of being like our wicked past, and should learn from our histories and be better people. Why lie to your children about the past? Ok rant over on to the book itself.
THIS BOOK IS SUCH GREAT FUN!!! So many random facts about so many cultures and time periods and to lighten things up there are the terrible puns and comic drawings. These funny accents keep the book upbeat. I read it cover to cover before I could part with it to send to my relative and promptly more for myself and my friends. It is mostly accurate as well, which is surprising since most of even my high school history books are filled with errors. (History was one of my majors in college) A few of the facts are debated lore and there is a jewish/biblical bit (plagues) thrown in that may offend a the more obsessive atheists. I am biased, but i do believe that history is essential to an understanding of the way our world works today. Even our Internet lines follow traditional trade routes, colonialism shapes world trade and our governments systems are based on so much ancient knowledge. This book does not explain all that but it does encourage kids to get interested and want to learn. As any teacher knows (I've been a teachers aid for many years and a tutor for underprivileged children), you need that hook to turn young minds to educational subject matter. I never understood why adults seemed to take all the interesting bits out of every subject we learn in school. Kids are so naturally programed to want to learn, and yet it seems that the educational system deliberately sabotages the process.
I grew up with facts like these as i read the classics: Shakespeare, Tacitus and other classic histories, the great British romanticist poets, and fairy tales in their original form (reeeeeally gross) and I cant say it did me any harm to my moral development or any real trauma (the Disney movie of Sleeping Beauty, which I watched at a sleepover, scarred me for years however). I am a straight A student who hopes to head into the peace corps (if I'm lucky) or other service occupations if not. |
Wonderful
| Customer Rating: | | While prehaps a little to young for a high-schooler, these books are extremly entertaining. They offer witty narritives, fun quizes, and interesting trivia. Over the the course of the past three years, I have given them as presents to my daughter. She loves them. In fact, she never really liked history before I got her one of these (also on a trip to England, if you read one of the previous reviews), but now it is her favorite subject. As they are written by an Englishman, and, because of this, can sometimes give an alternate opinion of history than what Americans accept (thus why it has gotten some bad reviews). But, I must say, the alternate opinion can be somewhat refreshing. |
Not for Children
| Customer Rating: | This book is horrible. It was actually on the summer reading list for our school. I got it and I am very glad I previewed it. It is page after page of horror and atrocities. In one part of the book it chronicles the torture of a missionary by Iroquois. At the end of the passage it says "I guess his Jesus god is a powerful god?" Besides being a sadism manual it has an obvious anti Christian bent. I cannot believe people would want their children exposed to this sort of material and that the presentation is that it is somehow funny. I understand books and movies that get a little vulgar or use "potty language" or gross things to grab the kids and hold their attention. This does NOT fall into that category. I cannot believe Scholastic published it. I took it in to our school principal, who after reading one page said that she agreed that it was inappropriate and would have it removed from the list. She said she would investigate how it got on the list in the first place. PLEASE take a look at this book before you unwittingly give it to your child. It is VERY disturbing!
PS I notice after submitting this review that it is applied to the Horrible History of the World. I have not read this book. The book I am reviewing is another book in the series, "The Wicked History of the World" |
Shrieks of laughter followed by "Hey listen to this..."
| Customer Rating: | | The "Horrible Histories" books deliver up historical facts regarding American, European and World history in such an entertaining way for 7-12 year-olds, that the children may never notice how much they're learning. During a family vacation to the U.K. in 2002, we first stumbled upon these books in the bookstore of one of the castles we toured and bought a couple volumes at our 9 & 12 year-olds' requests in order to keep them occupied in the back seat as we drove several hours to the next stop on our itinerary. Shrieks of laughter ensued from both children not long after we got underway, interspersed with, "Hey, listen to this..." The dreaded long drive passed without complaint from the denizens of the back seat, which was a welcome change, but by the time we arrived at our destination they'd each finished one book, were trading copies, and begging for more. We looked for more "Horrible Histories" as we continued our vacation, returning home to the U.S. with perhaps 8-10, which they re-read on the plane flight home. I bought several other volumes over the next couple years as gifts, which were eagerly received. My children have now outgrown them, but if you have children in this age group, they are sure to enjoy this book. |
|
