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.

Excerpt from A Short History of England, and the British Empire In this volume an attempt has been made to trace the growth of the English nation from its faint and unpromising beginnings in the early middle ages to the opening years of the twentieth century. During this period the little kingdom of the West Saxons has developed into an empire, the most extensive and the most diverse in all history. A subject of such dimensions may be viewed from many different angles; in this case the writer has tried to discuss it from the view point of his American readers. Certain important periods of English history are in a very real sense our own history: the beginnings of the American Republic were also the beginnings of the British Empire; and our country is still a part of the great empire of English culture. That the United States has inherited much of its constitutional system from Great Britain is a fact that needs no emphasis; but even greater is our English inheritance in the fields of literature, religion, ideals, and general culture. In the building of American civilization we have drawn materials from nearly all the cultivated peoples of the world; but the greatest single element in our culture is still the English. With the English language we have inherited the treasures of English thought. The non-conformist churches, for example, had their origin in the storm and stress of the Puritan Revolution, but in no other country have they taken root and developed strength as in the United States. It is therefore believed that a study of English history from a view point that is not too narrowly British cannot fail to give a deeper insight into the development of American life and thought and civilization. At the same time an effort has been made to give prominence to those facts of English history that lie at the root of our own social and political development. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from A Short History of England, and the British Empire A narrative that takes into account. The expansion of England into Greater Britain necessarily carries the author far afield. To compress the story into a small manual like the present means that the topics to be discussed must be carefully chosen and a mass of interesting and even important materials must be excluded. The type of text-book that attempts to tell the story of national development with a fulness of detail is the despair of the teacher of history: the facts come in such throngs that very few of them are able to make any lastingimpression. The author has striven to avoid this by including such facts only as have seriously affected the course of English history or have definitely contributed to the building of the British Empire. It'is, of course, true that the demands of the narrative have frequently interfered with the con sistent application of this rule, but in the main it has been followed. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Interpretative survey that traces the development of English society from the Roman occupation to 1900 A.D.