Spies, Sadists and Sorcerers

The History You Weren't Taught In School

AMAZON NO. 1 BESTSELLER

‘Dominic Selwood is the enfant terrible of history teachers and he appears to enjoy it a lot’

‘This is one of the most fascinating books I have ever read’

‘I have been teaching history for 37 years. I'm going to have to revise some of my lessons now.’

‘Lively, Clever and Scholarly’

DETAILS

Back Cover

With a breath-taking sweep spanning Rome to the modern day, historian and author Dominic Selwood challenges the traditional version of some of the best-known events of the past. From ancient Christianity to the voyages of Columbus, and from the medieval Crusades to ISIS and the modern Middle East, this book debunks dozens of historical myths. You will learn that:
  • Magna Carta was an infamous failure in medieval times
  • Richard the Lionheart was a cruel and dreadful king
  • The Knights Templar were heretical, and have left a genuinely baffling mystery
  • The painter of the Turin Shroud was found in the 1300s
  • Christopher Columbus never saw North America
  • The first computer coder was a woman, a century before Alan Turing
  • The man who unleashed mustard gas in the World War One trenches won the Nobel Prize for chemistry
  • One incredible Spanish spy saved D-Day

This book will challenge everything you think you know about history.

Reviews for Spies, Sadists and Sorcerers