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

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We are not told that the reason Scott needed to get himself promoted as quickly as possible was due to becoming financially responsible for his mother and numerous sisters, after his father died leaving bad debts resulting in the family becoming destitute. Aaronovitch is thorough and patient in the stories he tells, while English is breathless, seemingly distracting by the next example or incident that comes to mind.

The chapter on Henry V is a description of that king's foolhardiness in war, but then toward the end has a strange segue into Australian history, with the connection tenuous at best.Some famous events in history are outlined in two to three pages, in other places, a lot of knowledge is assumed. Is there really a difference between the giant statue of a golden dog unveiled in Turkmenistan, and Britain's own statue of Petra, the Blue Peter dog in Manchester? To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. In a country where virtually no-one goes to church any more, ‘The War’ has become a de-facto religion for many a Brexit-minded Conservative.

A quote from Cherry-Garrard is then cut down to make Scott appear hopeless and emotional, the full quote being "He [Scott] cried more easily than any man I have ever known.for history geeks like myself this book makes for a very interesting read as i learned a lot of interesting facts reading this book. It is a great book to read but be assured it is certainly not a strict factual account of history with balanced views on what might have happened. Recurrently contrasting the lives of real, often uncelebrated, heroes with lionised fakers, English employs a forensic and acerbic scalpel to question the whole notion of what heroism actually is in this entertaining and necessary book for a celebrity obsessed age.