Customer Reviews

A Traveller's History of England

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Since I was going to study abroad for a semester in England, I figured I'd read up on the history.

Below are my specific opinions, but in summary, it's a decent book if you want to brush up on English history and not be weighed down with it.

The good:

-The book is short despite England's LONG history.

-It's comprehensive. Not only does it talk about England's monarchial and wartime history, it also includes major writers, artists, and thinkers.

-It has a rather fine index that includes, but isn't limited to, monarchs, major battles, and cathedrals.

The bad:

-The writing's poor. Not only does the author use incorrect grammar, he uses it blandly. Whereas I normally would finish a 300 page book in a day, this took me a week.

-The book's short. Now, I know I put this in the good category, but it also works against the book. Since it's so condensed, the author glosses over some interesting bits. The War of the Roses is cut down to a page; it's never mentioned why the Boer Orange Free State was named as such.

-It's confusing. Since hundreds of years of history are condensed into just a few pages, new names appear in every sentence, and it's hard to keep up.

I am not one to post recommendations but I really enjoyed this book very much and if you are thinking about getting it, got for it, it worth ever cent.

I have been traveling to London past several years for leisure and recently for business. Outside of the standard travel guides such as Lonely Planet Europe and UK, Unofficial Guide to London and such, I have not delved further. All the above are in varying degree provide the quick hits on what to see and when but are all lacking in providing the context of the countries history.

Here is where A Traveller's History of England towers above all the rest. Its starts off, believe it or not, at the beginning of time, or near to it, some 300 million years ago, and before you are a few pages into it you learn that wheel was not introduced to the island till about 1000 BC. From there the book takes you through the string of events that came to be the England of today. You would think that a subject such as England, who defined modern Western civilization (Common Wealth, USA, and all its former colonies throughout the world, including a great part of Africa and Middle East) would be encyclopedic proportions and I am sure those books are out there but this book is far from it. At 255 pages, its an easy and engaging read. As the title, clear state, a Traveller's guide which should translate to a book sized more as a pamphlet rather than a phonebook.

I began reading the book on my way to the London and over the following day, before and after trips sightseeing, I would be reading this book. Made my visit all the more fulfilling.

I guess the last endorsement of this book would be that here I am on amazon.com looking for the sister books in hopes of finding the same quality writing and content. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Finally, kudos to the author, Christopher Daniell, job well done and to soon to be reader, enjoy.

This is an excellent single volume review of English history that makes for a great introduction for travellers, and interested readers alike. Almost by definition this relatively short volume leaves the interested reader wanting more, but it does cover such a wide span of time and topics admirably well (the ample bibliography will help interested readers to "dig deeper"). Highly recommended for travellers (it was a wonderful introduction for my 1st visit to the country, and even added intruiging insights for my spouse who had lived in London for several years).

As a follow-on, consider reading Smith's English History Made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable. A wonderfully insightful and funny read once you understand the rudiments of English history from the "Traveller's History".

I remember history classes in high school and college that were so boring that I never, ever thought I'd pick up another history book again. This book, though with it's short and concise summaries of events made it a pleasure to read. I found out (and retained!) more about England's history in this book, than all of my history classes combined!