It All Started with Europa - Being an Undigested History of Europe from Prehistoric Man to the Present, Proving that We Remember Best Whatever is Least Important

by Richard Armour

It All Started with An Unreliable Account of European History by Richard Armour, with appropriately idiotic illustrations by Campbell Grant. This is a humorous account of European history, and is illustrated throughout with line drawings.

Genres: Humor, History, Nonfiction, Comedy

119 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1955

About the author

Richard Armour, a college professor of English who specialized in Chaucer and the English Romantic poets, was best known as a prolific author of light verse and wacky parodies of academic scholarship. He was a professor of English at Scripps College in Claremont from 1945 to 1966.

Armour was raised in Pomona, California, where his father owned a drugstore. He graduated from Pomona College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, then obtained his master's and Ph.D. in English literature at Harvard. He was a Harvard research fellow at the Victoria and Albert Museum library in London.

Reviews

[Mary JL · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richard Armour was a very popular humorist about 30 years ago when I was in college. He has a light, wacky and irreverent sense of humor.

This particular book is a humourous look at European History. You do not need to be a history major to enjoy this one either.

Armour's books are mostly out of print, but some libraries still have copies here and there. "It all Started With Europa" is my personal favorite, but if you want some witty humor, any of his books will provide it.

I recommend this as a quick , easy read to pass on hour our two. You may not scream with laughter--his humor is more subtle and witty. But I will bet you will smile a lot.

[John E · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read Armour's books since the 1960s and re-read them whenever I find one. They are short and very funny with multiple levels of humor. Word play and twisting story lines are favorite devices he uses. The humor is better the more you know of history.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book once before, and enjoyed the humor of the author. It's not laugh-out-loud by any means, but it makes history entertaining for one who has little interest in it. I am reading it to my son now.

[Deana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has been on my mom's shelf forever, along with It All Started with Columbus, and I've wanted to read both for as long as I can remember. I started with this one because both my mother and the few reviews I could find indicated that it's the best of this author's books. I read a little over half the book the first day and then didn't touch it for over a month. It turns out, my world history education is not nearly good enough for this book. If you don't already know the history, the jokes don't make a lot of sense, and you definitely won't LEARN anything from this book. But, the jokes that I did get were funny, and I laughed out loud a few times (once loud enough to wake my husband). I thought the WWII jokes were not that funny, although I understood them. And I found it interesting that the entire Japanese part of the war was summed up in a single sentence, with no mention of Pearl Harbor at all. Anyway, I'll read the Columbus book and I expect I'll find it a lot more entertaining - my American history is much more polished.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Satiric look at European from Neanderthals to Cold War. One thing that makes this interesting is that it was published in 1955, while the Cold War was just getting started, giving his thoughts and hopes for the future. Don't worry if you don't know the in's and out's of that time. The puns and earlier history make this a fun read.

[Carlos · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was about what I expected, though I had hoped for more. I got it free in a library sale and was intrigued enough to read it. While I had hoped it would get beyond pun-jokes, it never did, and beside a good pun or two it was not really worth the read.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of puns basically.

[Judith Gunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are fun books, portraying history as a joke. For example, Hitler, is the German Furor who was head of the Nastis.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never get tired of Richard Armour. I loved his work when I was a young girl, and I still enjoy his work 40-50 years later. Only an academic could have written this and his similar works. I just marvel how difficult it is to write humor like this.

If you get a chance, read his books poking fun at various academic subjects. They are great.

[Xime Lage · Rating 5 out of 5]

Espectacular este libro de 1955! "An undigested history of Europe from Prehistoric Man to the present, proving that we remember best whatever is least important"... Get it and read it! Imposible no reirse...

[Erika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny and interesting book!
Even though it ends at the Cold War, it's humor is amazing.

I wonder how this author would write about the world today.

[Kaethe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I may be wrong, but I don't think many writers tackle such a broad range of subjects. I still think this stiff is funny.