A Short History of England – Simon Jenkins

Synopsis:

England’s history is the most exciting of any nation on Earth. It’s triumphs and disasters are instantly familiar, from the Norman Conquest to the two world wars, but to fully understand their significance we need to know the whole story.

A Short history of England sheds light on all the key individuals and events, bringing them together in and enlightening and engaging account of the countries birth, rise to global prominence and then partial eclipse.

Review:

This book is immediately accessible and captivating. The telling our our history in short enough burst through time to keep your attention.

I found that the bits that I was more interested in I ended up looking up in more detail online. The perfect balance of pace and detail for a non-fiction history book.

I learnt lots of things I didn’t previously know but I did find that I didn’t enjoy the later parts I.e Second World War onwards as much as the rest of the book. Some of it felt very political and not objective in places.

I absolutely loved the handy index at the back for quick reference plus the list of ‘one hundred and one key dates’, the kings and queens and the prime ministers in chronological order! All very handy and no doubt I will need to reference back to!