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I focus on David Howarth\u2019s 1066: The Year of Conquest<\/i><\/a>, however, because I\u2019m going through a hardcover version, since I lost the original version some time ago. \u00a0So I thought I\u2019d run through it. \u00a0What strikes me about this book is its accessibility. \u00a0You don\u2019t\u00a0have\u00a0to be a scholar of the 11th century to get what he\u2019s saying. \u00a0He walks the reader through the year 1066, focusing on how the\u00a0various\u00a0parties involved in the fateful battle at Hastings came together. \u00a0He writes well, \u00a0is engaging, and lays out the basic facts that are known to most who study that period.<\/p>\n

What is fascinating\u00a0about\u00a0Howarth, however, is the\u00a0flagrant\u00a0bias he brings to the table. \u00a0He\u2019s an Englishman, and a proud son of the Saxon race. \u00a0You don\u2019t have to read long to see his sympathies are with the English people that October morning. \u00a0The irony here is how he frequently points out the recurring meme of modern history that we can\u2019t trust much of the source material because it was\u00a0written\u00a0by the winners. \u00a0In this case, it\u2019s those rascally Norman\u00a0chroniclers\u00a0whose versions are suspect. \u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0ironic\u00a0\u00a0because\u00a0Howarth himself brings such a loaded bias to the table when he recounts the bold and wonderful and perfectly hip modern flavored Harold against the 11th century\u00a0manifestation\u00a0of the Galactic Emperor himself: William the Bastard (a.k.a. William the Conqueror). <\/p>\n

To his credit, he admits as much. \u00a0He lets us know, like any child of his\u00a0generation\u00a0 he has\u00a0basic\u00a0contempt for Edward the Confessor and his religious ways, seems to have admiration mixed with pity for King Harold, and is scared out of his pants of William. \u00a0That this is seen in every paragraph in every chapter makes this a welcome admission. \u00a0But all too often, modern history approaches events and individuals with equally slanted takes and biased interpretations. \u00a0All too\u00a0often,\u00a0 however, they refuse to admit what is so flagrantly obvious. \u00a0Which is why it is easy to imagine that\u00a0chroniclers\u00a0of the past may have been\u00a0biased\u00a0 too. \u00a0Almost as biased as the historians and scholars of the\u00a0modern\u00a0era.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"