Jeremy Black has written a vigorous and fascinating narrative of a group of rather desolate offshore islands and their remarkable impact on the rest of the world. From the earliest pre-history to the present day, this stirring account describes the astonishingly varied stages through which the British Isles have passed to achieve their present identity.
Just as the islands have populated and ruled so much of the rest of the world, so they have been settled themselves by many invaders, all of whom have left their mark - from Romans to Saxons, from Vikings to Normans - creating an immensely rich historical inheritance. Perhaps most dynamic of all has always been the relationship between the four principal peoples of the islands: Scots, Irish, English and Welsh.
A History of the British Isles is not (unlike most other accounts) really just a history of England. Proper weight is given to all four, often fractious, components of the British Isles, providing the reader with an admirably balanced and absorbing account - political, social, economic and cultural - of an extraordinary shared history. In this second edition the study is brought up to date and each chapter has been thoroughly revised in the light of recent scholarship across the whole range of British history.
Review of the first edition:
'Do histories of Britain inevitably have to be histories of England?..This is exactly where Jeremy Black comes into his own, for he delivers the history of the archipelago which he promises...the perspective of the work is wider and fuller than that of any other recent history. Black's work is also remarkable for the sense which it conveys of the power of broad social and cultural change.' - Times Educational Supplement
List of Maps
List of Plates
Preface
Introduction
Pre-Roman and Roman Britain
Saxons, Vikings and Celts, AD 400-1066
The Middle Ages
The Sixteenth Century
1603-88
1689-1815
Age of Reform and Empire, 1815-1914
The Twentieth Century, 1914-97
The British Isles Today
Conclusions
Selected Further Reading
Index
JEREMY BLACK is Professor of History at the University of Exeter, and Editor of Archives. He is the author and editor of a number of books published by Palgrave Macmillan including Eighteenth-Century Britain (2001) and Modern British History (2000).
Description
Jeremy Black has written a vigorous and fascinating narrative of a group of rather desolate offshore islands and their remarkable impact on the rest of the world. From the earliest pre-history to the present day, this stirring account describes the astonishingly varied stages through which the British Isles have passed to achieve their present identity.
Just as the islands have populated and ruled so much of the rest of the world, so they have been settled themselves by many invaders, all of whom have left their mark - from Romans to Saxons, from Vikings to Normans - creating an immensely rich historical inheritance. Perhaps most dynamic of all has always been the relationship between the four principal peoples of the islands: Scots, Irish, English and Welsh.
A History of the British Isles is not (unlike most other accounts) really just a history of England. Proper weight is given to all four, often fractious, components of the British Isles, providing the reader with an admirably balanced and absorbing account - political, social, economic and cultural - of an extraordinary shared history. In this second edition the study is brought up to date and each chapter has been thoroughly revised in the light of recent scholarship across the whole range of British history.
Reviews
Review of the first edition:
'Do histories of Britain inevitably have to be histories of England?..This is exactly where Jeremy Black comes into his own, for he delivers the history of the archipelago which he promises...the perspective of the work is wider and fuller than that of any other recent history. Black's work is also remarkable for the sense which it conveys of the power of broad social and cultural change.' - Times Educational Supplement
Contents
List of Maps
List of Plates
Preface
Introduction
Pre-Roman and Roman Britain
Saxons, Vikings and Celts, AD 400-1066
The Middle Ages
The Sixteenth Century
1603-88
1689-1815
Age of Reform and Empire, 1815-1914
The Twentieth Century, 1914-97
The British Isles Today
Conclusions
Selected Further Reading
Index
Authors
JEREMY BLACK is Professor of History at the University of Exeter, and Editor of Archives. He is the author and editor of a number of books published by Palgrave Macmillan including Eighteenth-Century Britain (2001) and Modern British History (2000).
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