History's Naughty Bits

by Karen Dolby

With each new generation we all tend to think of our predecessors as 'old-fashioned', 'conservative', 'prim', 'proper' - and downright dull. The sexual revolution happened in the 1960s, right? Wrong. History's Naughty Bits is full of incredible stories that would curl the hair of the most liberal-minded and sets the record straight with true stories of debauchery and titillation from Ancient history to the twentieth century.In it, you'll find a huge range of well-known figures, from the Borgias to various kings and queens, Popes and priests, Presidents and Prime Ministers, doctors, lawyers, saints and philosophers. Quite frankly, they were all 'at it' in one way or another, and have been since time immemorial.Fascinating, funny and mind-blowing in turn, this enlightening book will turn your preconceived view of history on its head ... if that's your thing ...

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Historical, Audiobook

205 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 19, 2013

Reviews

[Росена Маркова · Rating 5 out of 5]

Интересна, забавна и историческа. Подходяща за хора, които не харесват сухотата на някои (повечето) исторически книги. Увлекателния стил позволява да се прочете за отрицателно време. Доста голяма част от информацията в тази книга беше непозната за мен самата. Препоръчвам за лежерно четиво.

[☆Ruth☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basically a list of interesting, if bizarre, anecdotes relating to some of history's more colourful characters; the writing could have benefited from a touch more humour.

[Radi Radev · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://radiradev.blogspot.com/2015/04...

Някои теми вълнуват човечеството от хиляди години. В "Неприлични моменти от историята" можем да прочетем много и най-различни пикантни подробности относно секса през вековете.
Съществуват исторически детайли, практически неизвестни за широката публика и авторката Карън Долби ги е поднесла по достоверен, но в същото време и донякъде хумористичен начин.
В това ревю ще се опитам да ви предложа по-любопитните от тях.
Когато за първи път чух думата "китосана", започнах да се смея. Представих си колко трябва да е гримирана една жена за да я нарекат така. Оказа се обаче, че в Древен Рим дамите полагали грунд, очна линия, сенки и червени мазила за бузите и устните. Ставало наистина забавно, когато завали дъжд...
Историкът Херодот разказва, че в Египет е имало ритуална зоофилия. Освен това споменава, че вавилонците имали нестандартни обичаи. Един от тях бил да опушват гениталиите си след секс. Друг странен обичай е, че жените им отдавали приношение на богинята Милита като веднъж в живота си се сношавали с напълно непознати.
Валерия Месалина, жената на император Клавдий, била управителка на бардак. Тя също проституирала, използвайки измислено име. Организирала състезания по секс с други проститутки. Често излизала победителка, след като успявала да задоволи двайсет и петима клиенти за една нощ.
Интересно е да се отбележи, че през 12 век, в цяла Европа проститутките плащали данък, наречен putage.
Много забавно звучат имената на някои публични домове в Лондон по време на Средновековието. Примерно "Гроупкънт Лейн", или "Кок Лейн".

"Истинският моралист не вижда нищо грешно в онова, което е естествено."
Ричард Карлайл

Някои глави за любовните връзки на монарсите вероятно ще изумят читателите. Примерно, че Едуард 7, син на кралица Виктория е имал връзка с майката на Уинстън Чърчил, а също така и с Алис Капел - прабабата на Камила Паркър-Боулс, херцогиня на Корнуол.

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting more from this book. It's basically a collection of disconnected anecdotes and facts (?). Easy read, although poorly written

[ᴍᴀʀɪᴀ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Много ми хареса тази книга. Оказа се много по – съдържателна, а пикантните подробности само придават чар. Чете се лесно и плавно, може би заради късите глави или хронологично представените събития, да не забравяме и леката хумористична нотка.

[Lil's Vintage World · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can watch my youtube video on this book here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzNc-...

[Abby Mace · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had a good concept idea, but it was not well written.

[Lucija · Rating 2 out of 5]

Na kraju knjige nema bibliografije te se informacije navedene ne mogu provjeriti. Zgodna knjižica, usudila bih se reći da ima dosta nategnutih "činjenica". Razočarana sam jer nije spomenuta Lady Worsley čija priča bi se savršeno uklopila u tematiku knjižice.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting - written in short "tid bits" form which makes it more easy to read. No big long stories. And there are "category headings" so you can skip the bits you may not be interested in

[Chad Malone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty interesting thoughts and stories about history and the lives of some of history's major and minor figures

[Gamze · Rating 4 out of 5]

Geçmişten günümüze cinsellikle ilgili şaşırtıcı bilgiler. Eğlenceli ve akıcı bir dille yazılmış.

[İlhanCa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ayrıntıda boğuldum gibi..

[Umit · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yarısına kadar dinledim devamını getirmedim

[Galina Petkova · Rating 3 out of 5]

Забавна книга. След средата малко ме отегчи.

[Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

some wrong information

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disjointed but joyful and bawdy. Not the in-depth history I was hoping for. Major problem is with layout I think? Will definitely lead to further reading.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very different and entirely entertaining view of history. Some things are funny, some horrifying some things are surprising. All of it... interesting. Not for prudes.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two of the prime factors determining the history of the world are religion and sex. There is almost no historical event which did not have at least one or, more likely, elements of both. While there are many many books detailing the effects of religion on historical events, there are darn few on the effects of sex. Karen Dolby does an admirable job of filling that gap (no pun intended) with "History's Naughty Book." Don't be fooled, this is not some dry university diatribe written for a college course, rather "Bits" is an easy read of fun little historical facts. Each fact is covered in a few paragraphs or a couple of pages and there is no rhyme or reason to the organization. It's like reading a farmers almanac in feel and is anything but boring. As for the effect of sex on history, one only need look at the case of Madame Pompadore, Chief Mistress of Louis XV (yes, an official title in the French court). The Madame advised Louis to turn against Prussia in the Seven Years War, the war ended disastrously for France, which forfeited its American colonies to England and nearly bankrupt the French treasury. The book is full of little facts like these and is a great read. I recommend it highly.

[Amba · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to admit I love books that teach me things I never knew, I loved how this book started with the ancient Greeks and Romans though as it went on I thought it felt slightly disjointed.
I did love some of the information, particularly regarding prostitution in old London however I think it felt rushed toward the end but it was overall enjoyable.

[Nan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book, with its many titillating bits of information, had the potential to be enjoyable, but it was ruined by the plethora of grammatical errors. Mentally correcting the errors was too exhausting and taxing to derive any sort of pleasure from reading, and I will not be continuing.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I learned some little facts, but it was still so very boring.

I believed this book would delve into diff. periods of history, but it wouldn't really go past the 1800's.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend this book.

[Edkallenn Lima · Rating 3 out of 5]

No geral, é um bom livro. Há coisas que assustam os mais castos, mas, para quem conhece o ser humano e até onde ele é capaz o livro é divertido. Mas, sim, tem algumas partes que são um pouco "chatas". No geral, recomendo!

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of new and extremely interesting information! Unfortunately the author was a bit bias with some topics but it didn't effect the quality of text in it. I recommend it to anyone who likes history because that's what the book is about in the end.

[angela · Rating 1 out of 5]

boring

[Danielle Reily · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were a lot of grammatical and historical issues with this book.

[Kayley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Misspellings everywhere! That being said, it was good to read something taboo for a change.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious! Saucy, sassy, and full of scandal - definitely a great, short read for history fans.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting.

[Carlos Costa · Rating 2 out of 5]

was waiting for more of this book, not very interesting

[Jennifer Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

could have been a fun and witty read. Instead was boring and all over the place. Had some interesting facts, but overall fairly dull