In Search of History

In three and a half months I'm moving to one of the, for lack of any better word, coolest countries in the entire world, with many castles, clouds, and centuries of closely packed history. Unfortunately, my high school European History Class didn't start until the Reformation, on the theory I suppose that Medieval European history had no bearing on later centuries. Avram thinks it's because we're Protestant in America, and the Middle Ages are too Catholic. Regardless, what I know about the British Royalty could fit comfortably in the next sentence. William the Conqueror came in 1066, killed all the Saxons except for Robinhood, who plagued John Lackland, but then Richard the Lionheart saved him, but couldn't save his own line because he only like little boys (ask Avram), so then Henry the Eighth took over, probably fathered Elizabeth (ask Avram about this theory as well), who promptly stuck her relative Mary, Queen of Scots in a tower because she killed protestants, but Mary got the last laugh because Elizabeth had no children, being the Virgin Queen, and so put Mary's son James on the throne, who had our version of the Bible translated.

And thus we have illustrated the main point of this post, which is that I desperately need to learn some British history before I convince all the English I meet that Americans are all ignoramuses.

In fact, anything I can do to help my knowledge of England would be beneficial, and so I read a book entitled Looking For Class by Bruce Feiler, about his experience going to Cambridge for a year in the early Nineties. I must say, I was rather disappointed by the book, because it was a tour through Babylon. Not that I'm saying that Babylon doesn't exist in Cambridge, but more that I believe there were uplifting, edifying experiences occurring at that time, and that the author seems to have searched out the exact opposite; sex, excessive alcohol, sex, more alcohol. Also, the tone was quite condescending. And he never went "walking," Britain's national pastime, until the last two pages of the book. I would say that I'm concerned about the youth of the day, except the author is now 42. Granted, there is some useful information in there, like what to avoid at Oxford (bars, any parties put on by students).

After having read this book, I've decided I should write a book of memoirs about my year in England; of course, I wouldn't write it for publishing, because I'm much too religious for general America, and also I'm not a very polished writer. But I figure any one's experiences could be potentially better than his experiences, so I've an easy task to fill. Also, I want to read books about England, either historical or cultural, so if anyone has any they would like to recommend, please do so.