Product Description

The narrative commences 55 years before the birth of Christ, when Julius Caesar famously 'turned his gaze upon Britain' and concludes with the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. Along the way we encounter a plethora of closely observed characters, all of whom breathe life into the page: William the Conqueror, Alfred the Great, Richard the Lionheart, Joan of Arc. The beginnings of Parliament, the Church and the monarchy are all analysed alongside this comprehensive chronology. THE ISLAND RACE Britannia; Subjugation; Roman Province; Lost Island; England; Vikings; Alfred the Great; Saxon Dusk THE MAKING OF THE NATION Norman Invasion; William the Conqueror; Growth amid Turmoil; Henry Plantagenet; English Common Law; Coeur de Lion; Magna Carta; On the Anvil; Mother of Parliaments; Edward I; Bannockburn; Scotland & Ireland; Long-Bow; Black Death THE END OF THE FEUDAL AGE King Richard II and the Social Revolt; Usurpation of Henry Bolingbroke; Empire of Henry V; Joan of Arc; York and Lancaster; Wars of the Roses; Adventures of Edward IV; Richard III

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #187997 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-14
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

About the Author
Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) was prime minister of Great Britain during World War II. Throughout his long and distinguished political career his writing was prolific.

Customer Reviews

Essential
You might expect history written by the Master of the English language who also made some of it to be better placed than anyone, ever. He does not disappoint - it flows smoothly covering huge expanses of time and complex events in an engaging way.

He sticks absolutely to the point - power. The flow of political power. The actor's characters are deftly sketched to show their motivation and the so the whole thing comes alive and you read it like a novel, except you have to go slowly because so much is packed into each page.

Time and again the same themes emerge. Politics is inherently dirty. Good guys don't win (never give a sucker an even break) but neither do bad guys. Bad guys always fair worse if they break-the-code. In fact it seems that it is almost necessary for some extreme atrocity to occur before any period of stability.

This is how the book affected me. It made me think. Modern wars are not short-sighted, they are non-sighted. It took an amazing length of time and blood for the English government to so painfully, slowly, evolve.

I smiled at his dry comment on deteriorating behaviour during the wars of the roses "...followed by the now customary beheadings..."

You marvel with him on the courage of the chap who nailed the anti-Richard 111 doggerel on the door of the cathedral (and was presumably nailed to some other door by the king a year later - my words - Churchill avoids gruesome detail here but his allusion to it is the more menacing).

The prose is fantastic, so colourful, punchy and short and so original line after line. And I only needed the dictionary a few times! (to plash)

I am useless at Shakespeare but I understand Churchill's semantics/syntax first time, every time.

He playfully chides academic's "Bodicca" preferring "Boadicea". That's Churchill for you, a man of the people.

I picked up a copy of Simon Scharmer at the library (I quite enjoyed the TV series) read a paragraph, and then re-read some of it again and left it alone - too flowery and heavy a style. I don't have time to learn a new language.

As good as you would expect
Mr Churchill has taken on a huge subject and dealt with it fantastically. The speed of the book is just right and it is written with a feel and expression of ideas that I wasn't expecting.
The best point to note though is that he offers his own opinion on many occasions so you not only get a thoughtful perspective of history you also get an incite into a great man's view of other notable figures in English history.

The History Of The English Speaking Peoples, Volume 1: The Birth of Britain, Winston Churchill - A great tale
During the years in the wilderness leading up to the second world war, the Churchill household was short of cash, and Churchill had to return to his pen as a means of earning a living. He conceived this grand project as a means of making that living. From the outset it was intended to be a best seller, and as such had to read as a great story rather than as a dry history.

In this attempt Churchill succeeds, and these books are a great and very readable story. However, they are coloured by Churchill's own view of the world, his own prejudices and his own ego.

This forst volume covers the period from 55 BC, with the invasion of Julius Caesar through to Battle of Bosworth and the start of the Tudor period. A huge period to cover, and with some very convoluted episodes (especially the wars of the roses), Churchill has done a great job of distilling it down to a few key episodes, and laying out the sequence of events in a clear fashion. The triumph of the book is the very readable prose, as he intended it is no scholarly, yet boring analysis, but a highly entertaining romp through the events that made this great nation.

This (and the other three volumes) is highly recommended for those with a casual interest in history, and find the usual text books far too dull. Also, anyone who enjoys a good tale will find much to enjoy here. For an authoritative history text I would advise you to look elsewhere.