British History For Dummies - Softcover

Lang, Se?n

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0764570218 ISBN 13: 9780764570216

Publisher: For Dummies, 2004

Synopsis

A stirring trip through the essentials of British History.

Britain's past brought right up to date.

This book is a riotous, irreverent account of the people and events that have shaped Britain.  It's a "who, what, when, where and why" that reads like a thriller and a comedy rolled into one.  Inside  you'll find rip-roaring stories of power-mad kings, executions, invasions, high treason, global empire-building and forbidden love - not bad for a nation of stiff upper lips.

Discover:

• Famous and infamous Britons
• Key royal, military and cultural eras
• Power in Britain: who lost it, who took it
• The rise and fall of Britain's global empire
• History as it connects to Britain today

About this title

From the Back Cover:

It's not uncommon to hear an American tourist in Britain say "I can't believe this building is so old," only to be followed by a British answer, "It's not old, it's only fifteenth century." And the amazing thing is not that the buildings are old: it's that they're still in use. You can go to a church in Britain where Saxons worshipped; you can drive along motorways that follow lines laid down by the Romans. It's silly to complain that the British somehow live in the past: The past lives in the British.

And now you've picked up British History For Dummies, probably because:

• You studied British history at school, but found it all very confusing
• You liked the subject, but your memory's hazy about who did what and when
• You did some English history but only touched on Wales or Scotland or Ireland, and only when they were giving the English grief (or, more likely, when the English were giving grief to them)
• You enjoy a good story and want to know more

You can read British History For Dummies from beginning to end or by jumping from topic to topic. The material is divided into parts that represent a particular period in Britain's history, including

• Britain's early days, from the Stone Age to the Iron Age, where you'll meet the mysterious Celts and the wacky Druids
• The age of the invaders, when everyone wanted to conquer Britain – Romans, Saxons, Angles, Vikings, and Normans.
• The Middle Ages, with its knights in armour and fair maidens
• The Rise of the Royals, or more accurately, the English Tudor family and the Scottish Stuarts. Here, you'll meet Henry VIII; Queen Elizabeth; and Mary, Queen of Scots
• The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, when Britain created the most powerful nation the world had ever known
• The Twentieth Century, when World War I left Britain deeply scarred. Throw in Irish rebellion, a global Depression, and an aggressive German dictator and you'll discover why the sun set over the great Empire and left Britain searching for a new role

If your idea of a history book is what you read in school, forget it. This book is different. It tells you the whole story, but does so without putting you to sleep. This is a great story: Don't miss it.

About the Author:

Sean Lang studied history at Oxford and has been teaching it to school, college and university students for the past twenty years. He has written textbooks on nineteenth and twentieth century history and is co-editor of Modern History Review. He regularly reviews textbooks for the Times Educational Supplement and has written on history teaching for the Council of Europe. He is an active member, and former Honorary Secretary, of the Historical Association. He is currently undertaking research on women in nineteenth-century British India.

About this edition

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0764570218
• ISBN 13: 9780764570216
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 432