Customer Reviews
Magnificent canter through two thousand years of Britain - By: John Holland, 05 Apr 2008 
This magnificent book covers British history from the Roman invasion up to the death of Queen Victoria. As the partner to a BBC series, the style is more conversational than lecturing, & certainly held me captured throughout the centuries of brutal wheeling & dealing that describes British leaders & history.
If I have one criticism, it is the excessive quoting from Churchill's History of the English Speaking Peoples & quotations from letters throughout. Perhaps as a BBC series, this added to the reconstruction of history, butin a book this appears to pad the writer's story with too many words from the mouths of others.
This criticism aside, I was completely held by the book to complete my way through a a description of the historical & political background to the British state. With reasoning of the British approach to church, state, empire & religion placed beside the mundane roots of words & phrases, this book maintains depth without becoming too high-brow & speeds at a relentless pace through the twists of fate, power & brokerage that brought the British state to its twentieth century position.
Having been bored by history at school, I found this a refreshing way to learn about subjects I had ignored for may years.
Very informative but dry and with mixed writing style - By: , 13 Jul 2001 
My knowledge of British history is (was) scant, hence the decision to read this book. I was bowled over by the amount of information but have to confess that the style of writing left me less impressed.
There are constant passages written by Churchill & others that are very differentin writing style, which I found to be a little irritating despite their obvious historic value.
A few diagrams of family trees to illustrate relationships here & there would not have gone amiss.
Finally, the print size left my eyes aching on more than one occasion.
Having said all that, a VERY informative book. Thank you Mr Lee.
A wonderful, insightful and FUN! way to brush up on history - By: , 13 Dec 2000 No more snoozingin history classes!! This audio CD set walks you by the hand through British history & gives you so much more than the dry facts. The readings from diarys of the time & also from Churchill's 'History of Britain' bring everything to life - you actually WANT to know what happens next! The reading by Anna Massey is just right - informative but alive.
This is a definite must for everyone who says 'Hmmm, Alfred - he was the one who burnt the cakes, wasn't he?'
Simply the best book on British history I've ever read - By: Paul, 24 Sep 1999 The one thing we can never loosein Great Britain is our history. This book covers this enourmous subjectin an informative & easy to read fashion. I have always been interestedin our history, but the books I've tried to read have always been far to heavyweight & verbose. This book brings the story of our Islands to life. It also covers the various interactions with other countries (for example a quite detailed account of the American war of independance & some of their civil war), but does not stray from the main theme too far. Sure there are many omissions (for example there is no mention of the invention of the marine chronometer which enabled Britain the essentially rule the waves during the 18th Century) but clearly the book cannot afford to get bogged down if the entire story from 55BC to 1901 is to flow from page to page. I Listened to the radio series on which this book is based & it is an excellent companion. I think the coverage is a fair reflection "warts 'n' all" on the activities of the British, & therefore of interest to non-British readers who may shy away from a potential "rule britannia" union jack waving/back slapping tome. That said, I was pleased to see that some subjects were covered carefully & sensibly (such as Britain's relationships with Ireland & India) & perhaps the flack commonly aimed at the British (or perhaps more acurately at the English) for disasterous policies & the causing of misery to other nations should be considered morein context of the time & place, rather than with a modern critical eye.
A wonderful set of tapes - By: , 01 Aug 1999 I was woefully ignorant about english history (having chosen to do geography at A level) I find the tapes a real treasure - absorbing, fascinating & relaxing - now I want to know more.
