![\"History's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/9781761472589.jpg\")
History\u2019s Strangest Deaths. Image: Allen & Unwin. <\/p>\nHistory\u2019s Strangest Deaths: quick links<\/p>\n
No matter how much we humans might research and theorise, some of the most entertaining stories throughout history remain disputed or tenuous at best. But in Half-Arsed History podcast host Riley Knight\u2019s debut book History\u2019s Strangest Deaths, this flaw of history is instead an asset. After all, as Knight often reminds the reader, who are we to let historical accuracy get in the way of a good story?<\/p>\n
And this book\u2019s account of 50 unusual, ironic and one-of-a-kind deaths are, indeed, good stories. The book traverses ancient China, Greece, and Rome, the Byzantine empire, medieval France, and more, stretching all the way to 1990s Toronto by the very final chapter. <\/p>\n
History\u2019s Strangest Deaths: inventions that kill their inventors<\/p>\n
The victims of these strange deaths range from a jockey, a painter and a scientist, to an abundance of emperors and kings. There are inventions that kill their inventors, fatal bouts of laughter, a donkey chowing down on some figs, a two-metre-long beard, and no fewer than seven women named Matilda, who happen to all be part of the same story.<\/p>\n
History\u2019s Strangest Deaths. Image: Allen & Unwin. <\/p>\n
This book is brimming with dry wit. Knight plays with the form of historical non-fiction by peppering the book with footnotes that, sure, frequently provide additional interesting historical details and facts, but even more frequently provide a space for comedic asides.<\/p>\n
History\u2019s Strangest Deaths: deadpan humour<\/p>\n
Knight\u2019s deadpan humour is front and centre from the opening line \u2013 \u2018dying is a favourite pastime of ours\u2019 \u2013 and is the absolute highlight of the book. The matter-of-fact approach to the dark humour of history injects this book with a Monty Pythonesque sensibility. The handful of moments where Knight really isn\u2019t afraid to go there with his jokes are moments that land spectacularly.<\/p>\n
Read: Introvert\u2019s Guide to Leaving the House review: Jenny Valentish\u2019s book helps the socially anxious<\/a><\/p>\n The book doesn\u2019t draw solely from disputed stories, but when they do appear, Knight presents the opposing historical accounts of the story to the reader and allows them to make a decision for themselves. The chapters are fast-paced and concise, which makes for easily digestible history; this is not a dense history book. <\/p>\n History\u2019s Strangest Deaths: life is short<\/p>\n The book covers one death per chapter, making it easy to dip into for a few stories at a time. History\u2019s Strangest Deaths could certainly be read all at once but is perhaps best enjoyed a few chapters at a time, whenever you need a reminder that life is short, so remember to laugh hard \u2013 but not too hard, unless you want to find yourself between the pages of the next book about history\u2019s wackiest deaths.<\/p>\n History\u2019s Strangest Deaths<\/a> by Riley Knight is published by Allen & Unwin.<\/p>\n Also on ArtsHub<\/p>\n The Revisionists review: Michelle Johnston\u2019s third novel is a masterpiece<\/p>\n Michelle Johnston\u2019s literary prowess has been apparent from the moment her debut novel,\u00a0Dustfall, was released in 2018. Four years later, her poetic and cerebral examination of belief arrived in the form of\u00a0Tiny Uncertain Miracles, setting the bar unreasonably high for any subsequent work.<\/p>\n Luckily for Johnston\u2019s readers, her literary trajectory is exponential; her first two novels were brilliant, but\u00a0The Revisionists\u00a0is a masterpiece.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Revisionists\u00a0centres the split-timeline journey of journalist Christine Campbell, whose third person narrative alternates between New York in 2023 and Dagestan during the Russian invasion of 1999. Weaving between timelines until the present converges with multiple pasts, the structure of the story mirrors its themes, subtly exploring the ambiguity of authorial authenticity and the double-edged sword of silence.\u00a0Read more\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n Discover more screen, games & arts news and reviews on\u00a0ScreenHub<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0ArtsHub<\/a>. Sign up for our free\u00a0ArtsHub<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0ScreenHub<\/a>\u00a0newsletters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"History\u2019s Strangest Deaths: quick links No matter how much we humans might research and theorise, some of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43927,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[31056,353,49,48,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-43926","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-allen-unwin","9":"tag-books","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}