The Story of Coventry is a long overdue general history of the city, from earliest times to the present, concluding with comments on the issues, challenges, and opportunities that the twenty-first century will present. Neither does the author neglect the city’s architectural development and heritage. Rather than being narrowly focused on local history, the book will attempt to show, where appropriate, how what happened had a wider significance. The author has an eye for a telling anecdote, and this, together with his lively and easy journalistic style and authoritative research, will make the book appealing to anyone who is seeking to find out more about this fascinating and much misunderstood city – whose history is forever overshadowed by the Second World War.