h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Maybe the problem starts with school history.

I remember school history. The Romans wore togas, the middle ages had field systems, from the Tudors onwards there were scraps about religion and, sometime towards the end of the eighteenth century there was an industrial revolution.

Of course, the message has to be simple to get the children to understand, but the state also gets involved, giving its own slant on things.

To get children interested in what it was like in a particular time, a few good historical novels can help. I remember being captivated by Rosemary Sutcliffe's books on Roman Britain - The Eagle of the Ninth, Silver Branch and The Lantern Bearers.

Funny you should say that, as I was just watching this history programme by Terry Jones:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go2pYjxWYZA

I'm still working my way through his'Who Murdered Chaucer?' - which is excellent.

I enjoyed Colleen McCullough's "First man in Rome" and its sequels.

Nowadays, historical nonfiction is held to high standards of readability. I've especially enjoyed recent biographies of figures such as Edward VII and Louis Armstrong.

I think that it's important to refrain from reading our modern attitudes into history. If this means educating ourselves about the prevailing attitudes and beliefs of the time, so be it.