Fake Heroes: Ten False Icons and How they Altered the Course of History

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From the glens of Scotland to the familiar shores of the South West Coast Path, this is the inspiring story of a thousand-mile journey and love letter to our land. Much is made of Scott's sentimentality around the killing and eating of dogs, as if it's a failing or a weakness. This seems incredibly odd to me, would you want to kill and eat your pets? Don't think so buddy. If anything the failing here was becoming too attached to the dogs, unlike the Norwegian team who saw them as more of a means to an end. It ends up sounding like "Scott liked animals, god what a loser!" Scrutinising figures from the worlds of art, politics, business, religion and royalty, he brings to light the murkier truths they would rather have kept buried away, at the same time as celebrating the unsung heroes lost to time.Fake Heroes exposes the truth of the past and helps us understand why that matters today. Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this piercing work distils three thousand years of the history of power into forty-eight well-explicated laws. As attention-grabbing in its design as it is in its content, this bold volume outlines the laws of power in their unvarnished essence, synthesizing the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun-tzu, Carl von Clausewitz, and other great thinkers.

Fake Heroes: Ten False Icons and How they Altered the Course Fake Heroes: Ten False Icons and How they Altered the Course

Fake Heroes: Ten False Icons and How they Altered the Course of History – Otto English – Heath Books The premise of this book is to explore and debunk ten great history myths which are frequently passed off as truth. The author sets his case straight away. Fake History is based on lies which are used to push agendas today. This often comes with idealising a past which bares little resemblance to the reality (as much as we can tell it) those gone before have lived.I'm sorry but what is this? I did history at uni, and I struggle to describe it, If one had to, you could define it as a self-absorbed, incoherent polemic. Part of the detritus thrown up by Brexit. For those uninitiated, Roland Huntford's 'Scott and Amundsen' is incredibly biased against Scott, and includes falsehoods that have been debunked since, some of which have been merrily repeated in Fake Heroes. *sigh* History evolving though is what I thought was the point that the author could have expanded on more. Fake History can be exclusionary but learning history can be inclusive, hopeful and frankly very cool. Yes, the truth being uncovered will undoubtedly shatter many epic stories which were long embellished about people who have become famous. But the great missing link is getting people connected to the history that is most linked and is relatable to them. Not how the ruling classes lived and made the country, but how the rest of us have.

Fake Heroes by Otto English | Waterstones

I have finished reading “Fake History: Ten Great Lies and How They Shaped the World” by Otto English. Lejön az egészről, hogy a prioritás a szerző részéről saját indulata megélése volt. Aminek következtében szó sincs építkezésről. Pedig ha csak a fejezetcímeket nézzük, hihetnénk azt is, English egy ívet kíván létrehozni. Hisz azokban világosan meg van határozva egy állítás (pl.: "Régen az emberek azt hitték, a föld lapos"), amit a szerző bizonnyal cáfolni kíván, valamint ott az alcím is (pl. "A történelemhamisítás története"), ami mintha arra utalna, hogy egy általánosabb tematikus rendbe lesznek illesztve a fejtegetések. Aztán kiderül, hogy ilyen tematikus rend jószerével nem létezik, English csak csapong, össze-vissza hajigálja elénk mindazt a tudást, amit innen-onnan összecsipegetett, nem csoda, ha az ember egyes fejezetek végén őszintén elgondolkodik azon, hogy volt-e itt mondva valami érdemleges, vagy csak ventilált egy jóízűt az író saját magának. Journalist and author Otto English takes apart ten of the greatest lies from history and shows how our present continues to be twisted and manipulated by the fabrications of the past.The Extra Mile is no ordinary sports memoir. But Kevin Sinfield is no ordinary sportsman. A one-club legend of Leeds Rhinos, who has now crossed codes as a defence coach for the England national rugby union team, Kevin Sinfield is a rugby icon. But in recent years has shown heroism of a very different kind through his selfless and extraordinary fundraising for motor neurone disease (MND), the terminal illness that has affected his best mate and former teammate Rob Burrow. I'm unsure why the food taken on the expedition is mentioned at all - they needed enough supplies to last 65 men YEARS - of course they took a lot of food?!

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

Excellent . . . at once a vicious polemic, a helpful primer and a cringe-inducing account of one barrister’s travails’ – The Telegraph Also, his last line made me literally laugh out loud: "P.S. One of those stories I told you about Donald Trump in Chapter 10 is a deliberate lie - sorry" It's easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled.The first rule of propaganda is that the target audience must be gullible enough to believe everything they hear or read.The second is that an attractive lie is always better than the ugly truth, and the third is that even if people realise that they're being brainwashed, they willingly buy it anyway." You can see that all over social media these days, lots of disinformation. Told with Sinfield’s characteristic warmth, dry wit and inspirational leadership, The Extra Mile is the story of an astonishing life, of an enduring friendship, of perseverance against the most difficult of challenges, and of a remarkable, humble human being who has defied the odds. The book equips readers with the tools and the mindset to embrace togetherness and to overcome their own challenges. It leaves the reader with the urgent question: Who would you go the extra mile for to help in life? Embarking on a journey across the Cape Wrath Trail, over 200 miles of gruelling terrain through Scotland’s remotest mountains and lochs, Raynor and Moth look to an uncertain future. Fearing that miracles don’t often repeat themselves.The man was a spy. A senior KGB officer, for more than a decade he had supplied his British spymasters with a stream of priceless secrets from deep within the Soviet intelligence machine. No spy had done more to damage the KGB. The Safeway bag was a signal: to activate his escape plan to be smuggled out of Soviet Russia. So began one of the boldest and most extraordinary episodes in the history of spying. Ben Macintyre reveals a tale of espionage, betrayal and raw courage that changed the course of the Cold War forever…. Secondly, I get the main message of his book. Fake History and the promotion of it is dangerous and serves certain agendas. I also agree that statues are political statements. Frankly, Edward Colston and his tasteless statues can go to hell. They should be constantly debated and challenged. History isn’t concrete. We find out more pieces of it’s puzzle and it evolves.

Fake Heroes: Ten False Icons and How they [PDF] [EPUB] Fake Heroes: Ten False Icons and How they

I do however have issues with the structure of the book. I found the chapters somewhat misleading in their titles. Each seem set up to discuss a certain historical myth, and yet only a small fraction of those chapters actually discuss what is stated that they are there for. I am aware that the author doesn’t owe me anything and my annoyance with this may be down to my Autism. But my experience in debating taught me the value of getting to the point. But in fairness some of the stories and arguments laid down by the author in those chapters were entertaining and informative. His discussion about food and language was absolutely fascinating and taught me a lot. Thoroughy enjoyable way to find out how so much of life's preconceptions are mistaken and how cognitive dissonance and the Dunning-Kruger affect lead us astray.

Debunking the myth of well known heroes takes courage. I found the JFK story interesting, the Mother Theresa one somewhat trivial. I like the way he critises the British mentality. As I think Andy Warhol is not much of a hero, I don't quite give a damn. As regards Che' story I think he is too harsh.