The heroes and villains, triumphs and disasters of English history are instantly familiar -- from the Norman Conquest to Henry VIII, Queen Victoria to the two World Wars. But to understand their full significance we need to know the whole story. A Short History of England sheds new light on all the key individuals and events in English history by bringing them together in an enlightening account of the country's birth, rise to global prominence, and then partial eclipse. Written with flair and authority by Guardian columnist and London Times former editor Simon Jenkins, this is the definitive narrative of how today's England came to be. Concise but comprehensive, with more than a hundred color illustrations, this beautiful single-volume history will be the standard work for years to come.

Covering over 2,000 years in under 200 pages, Jeremy Black takes the reader on a breathless tour of British history, providing invaluable context for students of any period. A truly British overview, this book covers all four constituent parts of the UK, as well as migration to and from Britain, and introduces questions of national identity and collective memory. The author begins by considering how the geography of Britain has influenced its development and goes on to examine the formation of its society and political culture. Resisting the Whiggish tradition of triumphalist national histories, Jeremy Black provides a balanced and sensitive account in his trademark pithy style. This new edition has been considerably revised and expanded, bringing the coverage right up to the present day, including what the Scottish referendum on independence says about the nature of modern 'Britishness'.

Based on The Cambridge history of English literature.

This book provides a concise, illustrated history of Great Britain over the past three centuries, from its formation as a sovereign state between the Union of England and Scotland in 1707 to its partial loss of sovereignty in the accession to the European Community, confirmed in the referendum result of 1975. Professor Speck emphasises political and social trends. In particular he argues that conservative politics prevailed largely in a deeply conservative society, and that reactionary causes generally obtained more support than radical campaigns. The book is highly illustrated with pictures and photographs and contains a bibliography and other features of use to students and general readers.

From highly experienced teacher Jürgen Kramer, Britain and Ireland is a handbook on the history of the British Isles that recounts the history of the two states – the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (Eire) – and four nations – the Irish, the Welsh, the Scottish, and the English – from prehistory to the present. Accompanied by numerous illustrations and information boxes, and also an extensive selection of documents with questions to challenge readers, the book has a unique approach that presents not only the story of what happened in the British Isles, but its interdependence with Europe and the rest of the world. With chapters organized chronologically, and including a glossary and selected further reading, this is a must for all students of British and Irish studies.

The first book in Peter Ackroyd's history of England series, which has since been followed up with two more installments, Tudors and Rebellion. In Foundation, the chronicler of London and of its river, the Thames, takes us from the primeval forests of England's prehistory to the death, in 1509, of the first Tudor king, Henry VII. He guides us from the building of Stonehenge to the founding of the two great glories of medieval England: common law and the cathedrals. He shows us glimpses of the country's most distant past--a Neolithic stirrup found in a grave, a Roman fort, a Saxon tomb, a medieval manor house--and describes in rich prose the successive waves of invaders who made England English, despite being themselves Roman, Viking, Saxon, or Norman French. With his extraordinary skill for evoking time and place and his acute eye for the telling detail, Ackroyd recounts the story of warring kings, of civil strife, and foreign wars. But he also gives us a vivid sense of how England's early people lived: the homes they built, the clothes the wore, the food they ate, even the jokes they told. All are brought vividly to life in this history of England through the narrative mastery of one of Britain's finest writers.

In this text, the author has condensed his three-volume work Christian England into one volume. It examines the relationship between Christianity and the changing, social, political and cultural developments of England over the centuries.

This history book is concise but very detailed and the author has succeeded in covering major events and figures in just enough detail to give understanding and knowledge, but not so much that the reader feels swamped by information. It covers the period from earliest times to 1900.

'History is indeed little more than a register of the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind.' Edward Gibbon The history of England is a full and fascinating one, but all too often one gets caught up in finding out about one era, or daunted at the prospect of trying to discover more from such a vast expanse of information. In A History of England in a Nutshell, John Mathew provides readers across the range with a work covering England's interesting (and often bloody) history in concise yet enthralling detail. From the first century BC when the Romans reached England's shores, through to Queen Victoria's reign and the height of the British Empire, this book will give you a comprehensive - and more importantly, comprehensible - retelling of England's history. Whether you wish to read straight through and follow the twists and turns of a kingdom being forged over the centuries, or to dip into sections of interest, it will engross and inform alike.