The Story of Britain: A History of the Great Ages: From the Romans to the Present

by Roy Strong

Overview

Every student of English history will enjoy this story, which is delightfully easy to read and remarkable for its insights into the deepest consequences of individual actions.

The Story of Britain is an accessible one-volume history that clearly depict Britain's origins—and explain how the past shaped the nation's current identity. He begins the story of Britain from the very earliest recorded Celtic times, and with this new edition has now brought it up to date via the Blair years and into the present day of Brexit Britain.

A magnificently eloquent volume, the narrative chronicles two thousand years of Britain's history, the triumph of its people, the glory of its culture, and its dramatic influence on other nations of the world, especially the United States. It is a remarkable achievement and, with his passion, enthusiasm and wide-ranging knowledge, Strong is the ideal narrator. The book is ideally suited for everyone who cares about Britain's past.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781643130132
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	02/05/2019
Pages:	624
Sales rank:	59,611
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 2.00(d)

About the Author

Sir Roy Strong was Director of the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria & Albert Museum. He is the author of forty books on a wide variety of subjects. He has recently reissued two volumes of his diaries: Splendours and Miseries and Scenes and Apparitions. He lives in England.

Table of Contents

Preface to the 2018 edition xiii

Preface to the 1966 edition xv

1 The Island 7

2 Britannia 9

3 Roman Britain 11

4 Darkness and Dawn 17

5 Alfred and the Vikings 25

6 The Kingdom of England 32

7 1066 39

8 The Conquest: Loss and Gain 44

9 The Norman Kings 48

10 The First Plantagenet 56

11 The End of an Empire 62

12 The Gothic Age 68

13 Towards a United Island 76

14 An Incompetent King 82

15 The Hundred Years War 89

16 The Black Death 95

17 The Great Revolt 100

18 The Fate of Richard II 106

19 The Father of English Poetry 112

20 The Victor of Agincourt 118

21 The Wars of the Roses 123

22 Return to Other: Edward IV 128

23 Violent Interlude: Richard III 132

24 William Caxton, Printer 136

25 Return to Order: The Tudors 140

26 Reformation and Revolution 147

27 A Man For All Seasons 157

28 The Turbulent Decade 163

29 A New Identity 172

30 Amada 178

31 Gloriana's England 185

32 Immortal Shakespeare 193

33 An Untrustworthy Dynasty 200

34 The King's Arcadia 208

35 Three Kingdoms in Crisis 216

36 The British Vitruvius 221

37 War 226

38 The World Upside Down 233

39 A Failed Republic 240

40 A Failed Protectorate 245

41 The Search for Stability 252

42 The Unexpected Revolution 262

43 The Birth of a Great Power 270

44 Instability and Change 276

45 From Magic to Science: Isaac Newton 285

46 The Rule of the Elite 292

47 The Richest Country 300

48 The Pursuit of Happiness 310

49 Reason and Enthusiasm 318

50 Paradise Regained: 'Capability' Brown 323

51 Disintegration and Defeat 329

52 World War and the Invention of Britain 338

53 The New Man: William Wilberforce 350

54 Revolution Averted: The Great Reform Bill 356

55 Country into Town: The Industrial Revolution 364

56 Information and Intervention 375

57 The Final Decades of Aristocratic Rule 383

58 The Lady with the Lamp 392

59 Victorian Britain: The Classless Society 398

60 Charles Darwin and the Origin of Species 410

61 Coming to Terms with Democracy 416

62 Ireland Departs 426

63 Pax Britannica 434

64 Splendid Isolation and War 439

65 Two Uncertain Decades 445

66 Alone 457

67 Utopia Comes and Goes 469

68 Consensus and the Mismanagement of Decline 478

69 Empire to Europe 495

70 A New Beginning? 510

71 The Consumer Society 520

72 'New Britain' 528

73 Postscript: Brexit and Bryond 536

Kings and Queens 543

Prime Ministers 558

Picture Credits 562

Index 00

Editorial Reviews

"An instant classic."

The Evening Standard - A. N. Wilson

"Impressively researched, organized and presented, The Story of Britain will prove to be an extraordinary and enduringly valued addition to community, college, and university library British History collections and supplemental studies curriculums."

Midwest Book Review

"An admirably conceived and richly enjoyable book."

The Times Literary Supplement

"Britain's history is critical to understanding world history, and of all the books on the subject, Roy Strong's is among the most accessible. He brings to life a brilliant cast of historical characters, making sharp and telling observations about each. Strong intersperses his discussion of kings and wars with discourses on writers, composers, scientists, and other ideological trailblazers, drawing these varied threads through the larger tapestry of his story."

Christian Science Monitor

"History at its best."

Antonia Fraser

"A triumph."

Amanda Foreman

"Classic popular history."

Andrew Roberts

An instant classic.

A.N. Wilson - The Evening Standard

★ 2018-11-13

For those who missed his first edition in 1996, Strong (Scenes and Apparitions: The Roy Strong Diaries, 1987-2003, 2017, etc.) is back with an updated popular history of Britain, whose people "cherish their island as a domain separate and inviolate from the rest of the world."

Throughout this highly readable history, which the author admits "is built with gratitude on the work of others," Strong carefully plucks out not just the most memorable, but the most momentous events in each era. Moving from Roman times and the arrival of Christianity, the author asserts the well-known fact that it was the monasteries that preserved the writings of the ancient world of Greece and Rome. In Northumbria, the scholarly civilization reached its apex in the seventh and eighth centuries. As Strong demonstrates, the Norman invasion was one of the most significant pieces of British history, with the coming of feudalism and a new ruling class that showed the importance of a strong king to the maintenance of government structures. Richard II is an instructive example of a ruler who made peace with France, Ireland, and Scotland but fought with his noblemen. The author is excellent at uncovering goodness and noteworthy effects on history by even the least likable kings. The Tudor crises—with religion and thus with Europe in general—postponed the coming of the Renaissance to England until the reign of Charles I, who eased travel abroad and encouraged Renaissance architecture and art, exemplified by Inigo Jones, Peter Paul Rubens, and Anthony van Dyck. Later, the Great Reform Act of 1832, which was passed to prevent peasant revolts, led to government social programs but ensured the middle class was kept in its place. It actually perpetuated elite control of government, but that power slowly collapsed under the unloved George IV, William IV, and the young Victoria.

Every student of English history will enjoy this story, which is delightfully easy to read and remarkable for what it leaves to the side as well as for its insights into the deepest consequences of individual actions.

Kirkus Reviews

A brave, lucid, lively, majestically illustrated volume.

Spectator

A must for anyone interested in history.
—Sunday Express

Beryl Bainbridge