The Four Nations

Even by comparison to the United States, the United Kingdom has had a brief and fractious history. Its existence as an undivided entity lasted only for a disputatious 125 years, and its future remains precarious. In The Four Nations, Frank Welsh offers a lively narrative history of the four component parts of the British Isles-England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Moving from the Roman period, which first defined many of the current internal boundaries, through the present day, Welsh descr...