A Night With Armour
ARGUS, M. K.
A Night With Armour It All Started With Europa. By Richard Armour. McGraw-Hill. 119 pp. $2.00. Reviewed by M. K. Argus Author, "Moscow-on-the-Hudson' "A Rogue With Ease" That ubiquitous and...
...Armour cautions his readers that any resemblance between this book and the work of any other historian, living or dead, is highly unlikely...
...or that medieval cities were ruled by despots and tosspots...
...The author calls his book "An Unreliable Account of European History," but he is being unnecessarily modest...
...But, in addition, you'll find in this hilarious book observations and remarks that penetrate deep below the surface and will make you stop and think about the erratic foibles of mankind, and take stock of our world as it was, as it is...
...Armour's book, but, due to my persistence, they already know most of it by heart...
...Armour's excellent treatise, I know considerably less, but at least I have had a wonderful time reading it...
...Such enjoyment of another book by any historian, living or dead, is highly unlikely...
...Reviewed by M. K. Argus Author, "Moscow-on-the-Hudson' "A Rogue With Ease" That ubiquitous and grave question, Toynbee or not Toynbee?, has been finally and, I must add, authoritatively answered by Richard Armour...
...Armour's new book equally stimulating...
...For another thing, you can read his book in two hours and, while reading it, conceive an unsur-mountable desire to quote numerous passages from it to your wife, your dog, or anyone who happens to be around...
...Now, after Mr...
...Armour, who has written a history to end all histories...
...Did any historian tell you that papal bulls, under the feudal system, mingled with the common herd...
...Richard Armour has a great many advantages over his fellow historians...
...or that Socrates had as much trouble with wedlock as with hemlock...
...Quite obviously, the answer is: Not Toynbee but Armour...
...Those who enjoyed It All Started With Columbus will find Mr...
...or that all the Russian rulers, with the possible exception of Catherine, were called Ivan or Peter, and were either Romanoffs or Onandoffs...
...Those who have not read his previous venture in historical research are lost souls whose only salvation would be in getting both books at once...
...It All Started With Europa is as reliable an account as many another and much funnier...
...Can you say the same about Professor Toynbee's books...
...Armour writes about history with tongue in cheek, but the tongue is sharp and it sometimes cuts the cheek...
...Of course you didn't...
...or that the sailing vessels of the Vikings were called sagas...
...For one thing, he has a wonderful sense of humor, which, alas, most learned historians do not possess...
...My wife and dog have not yet read Mr...
...or that the French King Hugo Capet tried uniting Champagne, Burgundy and Bourbon...
...The warning is superfluous...
...unfortunately, as it will always be...
...Did you know, for instance, that Paris was a handsome young Trojan of French extraction...
...or that Columbus was born in Italy and later in Spain...
...In my own lifetime, I have read quite a few books on history and still don't know what it is all about...
...or that Joan of Arc traced her ancestry back to Noah...
...or that Cincinnatus was a Roman from Ohio...
...True, it all started with Europa, but it may very well end with Mr...
...He does not disdain a pun or wisecrack if they are good, and invariably they are good...
...The historical data and information supplied by Richard Armour are invaluable...
Vol. 38 • October 1955 • No. 40
