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The Story of Britain: A People's History
In this masterful book, Roy Strong presents the story of Britain from the very earliest recorded Celtic times to the present day. It is a story of epic sweep and grandeur, and Strong, with his passionate enthusiasm and wide-ranging knowledge, is just the person to tell it. Lavishly illustrated with 300 photographs and works of art, The Story of Britain will be a standard work for years to come.
607 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
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About the author
Roy Strong
171 books27 followersSir Roy Colin Strong FRSL (23 August 1935 - ) is an English art historian, museum curator, writer, broadcaster and landscape designer.
He has been director of both the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He was knighted in 1983.
He has been director of both the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He was knighted in 1983.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 15, 2019
This is very much a book for people without a background in British history. It is a good popular history. It does not go into depth (WWII in one chapter), but it covers an awful lot for all that. I ended up skimming a lot of the second half with the exception of the period after World War II which is my weakness.
September 24, 2011
I have initially promised myself to only review fiction books, but wanted somehow to remember this on as I took it from the library and read it in one breath.
This book presents a history of Britain in essentially a story way, with each chapter progressively tracing different epochs from its history. What's extraordinary is how concise and exact judgement about past events are. There is a sense of British identity here, even if historians are still arguing about what exactly constitutes British, but there is also a very natural and easy to understand rationale behind every political and social movement. From the time of the Celts, through the War of the Roses, to modern times, judgement are made with the highest possible neutrality and ultimately this book is as authentic as it could.
I knew already a lot about the Elizabethan era and the subsequent parliamentary transition. But I was delighted to learn how exactly the power came to resonate from within the Prime minister's Office, or how the Empire came to be. And most of all, the chapters about the 20th century history are very enlightened. Maybe there is a glimpse of Tory politics from the side of the author, but it equally shocking and exciting to learn about the great utopian experiment of the 50s, with the Social welfare, education and national health system(NHS). (Things that are being debated even today)
This book presents a history of Britain in essentially a story way, with each chapter progressively tracing different epochs from its history. What's extraordinary is how concise and exact judgement about past events are. There is a sense of British identity here, even if historians are still arguing about what exactly constitutes British, but there is also a very natural and easy to understand rationale behind every political and social movement. From the time of the Celts, through the War of the Roses, to modern times, judgement are made with the highest possible neutrality and ultimately this book is as authentic as it could.
I knew already a lot about the Elizabethan era and the subsequent parliamentary transition. But I was delighted to learn how exactly the power came to resonate from within the Prime minister's Office, or how the Empire came to be. And most of all, the chapters about the 20th century history are very enlightened. Maybe there is a glimpse of Tory politics from the side of the author, but it equally shocking and exciting to learn about the great utopian experiment of the 50s, with the Social welfare, education and national health system(NHS). (Things that are being debated even today)
January 22, 2020
A very comprehensive overview of Britain from the Celts through to the modern day. The version I read was written (and therefore ends) in 1996 although I believe there is also a modern updated version.
As we're often taught history in a haphazard way at school (now we're studying the Tudors, now the Romans, now WWI) it was satisfying to be finally able to read it as one long (actually very engaging) story. Whilst there obviously isn't room (within what's still quite a hefty volume) to cover every event of note that ever happened, the book is great at illustrating the changes in the driving ideology of each era - for example, that we have moved from being a deeply religious society in which the 'good life' was to come in the next life, to one is which 'the good life' is now and it is seen as our right to live it.
It's clear that the author, Roy Strong, a committed Anglican, wasn't actually that happy with that turn of events, and that would be my only criticism: that the later chapters, covering the 20th century, are increasingly disparaging and lose a sense of neutrality. One quote that sums this up is when Strong writes that in the 90's, "a third of all marriages ended in failure adding to a rising under-class of one-parent families, to which can be added the other losers in society: the old, the unemployed, and those caught in the poverty trap." Blooming heck Roy.
As we're often taught history in a haphazard way at school (now we're studying the Tudors, now the Romans, now WWI) it was satisfying to be finally able to read it as one long (actually very engaging) story. Whilst there obviously isn't room (within what's still quite a hefty volume) to cover every event of note that ever happened, the book is great at illustrating the changes in the driving ideology of each era - for example, that we have moved from being a deeply religious society in which the 'good life' was to come in the next life, to one is which 'the good life' is now and it is seen as our right to live it.
It's clear that the author, Roy Strong, a committed Anglican, wasn't actually that happy with that turn of events, and that would be my only criticism: that the later chapters, covering the 20th century, are increasingly disparaging and lose a sense of neutrality. One quote that sums this up is when Strong writes that in the 90's, "a third of all marriages ended in failure adding to a rising under-class of one-parent families, to which can be added the other losers in society: the old, the unemployed, and those caught in the poverty trap." Blooming heck Roy.
April 25, 2024
A brilliant read. Short pieces with a very personal view. Amazing how he appears to have a connection and understanding of ancients through to modern. Also, having events one has lived through the subject to his erudite analysis is intriguing.
April 23, 2019
Very good, a book I will read again but had to put down for a bit because I got tired of reading about war and mayhem. But, well written.
August 1, 2020
Good overview of britain. Skip the 20th century chapters if you hate tory rubbish.
September 14, 2022
Great intro to British history - I ended up with an extensive further reading list at the end.
November 21, 2012
Sister Queens caught my eye a while back - turned out to be a captivating story and an excellent book. It's always fun to visit a period one believed to be familiar only to find that the real story is richer than ever imagined. Thus an interest in British history was sparked. I picked up The Story of Britain hoping to get a general overview without it feeling like a school assignment or text book. I was not disappointed. Strong does a good job of covering the major events moving from ruler to ruler and period to period telling the key stories with enough detail to keep interest without making the book ridiculously long.
I marked this book with three stars because it was a good book, but not one I would read again. It was well written, but there were no surprises in the eloquence of Strong's style, just a straight forward narrative history. The long and short of it is, that I'm not sure a survey such as this can get more than a 3. The material is fixed and there is only so much one can do to make the book engaging. Never the less, I would recommend it for anyone interested in a concise survey of Britain. With this overview, I feel that many gaps and misunderstanding in my knowledge have been filled and corrected. From here I will go back to more specific biographies and continue to develop a better understanding of the history of Britain.
I marked this book with three stars because it was a good book, but not one I would read again. It was well written, but there were no surprises in the eloquence of Strong's style, just a straight forward narrative history. The long and short of it is, that I'm not sure a survey such as this can get more than a 3. The material is fixed and there is only so much one can do to make the book engaging. Never the less, I would recommend it for anyone interested in a concise survey of Britain. With this overview, I feel that many gaps and misunderstanding in my knowledge have been filled and corrected. From here I will go back to more specific biographies and continue to develop a better understanding of the history of Britain.
September 14, 2015
The parts I read were satisfactory but nothing special, from the beginning up through the reign of James VI/I. I didn't feel the need to continue, as Britain after James is less interesting to me, and also because there were enough issues with se of the facts and opinions of certain players. I suppose this could be a decent into if you know nothing of Britain, but I'd be cautious even then due to certain inaccuracies.
May 9, 2011
An interesting overview, but I, like others have a complaint that it is called the story of *Britain*, but there wasn't enough coverage of Ireland, Scotland and Wales in it. At the end, he mentions that a future version of this book would maybe be separate histories of the four countries, and I think that might be a good thing.
May 13, 2011
THe actual book itself was way too heavy for me. The pages were printed on glossy paper and so the light reflected off of the pages so it was hard to read. The story is nicely written, fair and very objective. It was primarily a moving review of history lessons I had learned before. Pictures are nice.
October 9, 2012
This is a great way to get a snap shot of Britain's history up to the death of Diana. It's written in a very non-academic form - it feels more like you might be reading a magazine article on each subject. No annoying footnotes every half sentence! Not the best for a research source, but great for a history nerd-out read, and fodder for the mind to go find out more...
June 9, 2013
Very valuable. I enjoyed filling in my British history gaps and reviewing the few eras I knew a little about. Mr. Strong writes clearly without a glaring or distracting style and summarizes all of history at the end of "The Story of Britain" as he reflects that history never really ends; that the story always goes on.
June 19, 2008
Even though this is for a college course I am taking, it has been informational and a good read.
December 14, 2014
Not your usual stuffy English history. Very readable both in length and language.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews