# Recommend a book on English history **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 18, 2008, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-english-history/460478 "2008-08-18T21:47:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2008, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-english-history/460478/1 "2008-08-18T21:47:42Z")
I’ve been watching a fair amount of QI (read: obsessively) and it makes me realize how deficient is my knowledge of English history — well, Great Britain as a whole. I already have a book on European history, but it’s a pretty breezy overview, if you can call 800 pages breezy. Anybody got any recommendations? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2008, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-english-history/460478/2 "2008-08-18T22:46:12Z")
Simon Schama’s three volume “History of Britain” was described as being more of a series on England than Britain by some, if you yourself mean England the country and not the UK. The TV series was interesting at least but I’ve not had a chance to start on the books. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2008, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-english-history/460478/3 "2008-08-18T22:54:10Z")
If you want something a little lighter, there’s the slightly elderly [1066 and all that](http://www.amazon.co.uk/1066-All-That-W-C-Sellar/dp/0413772705/ref=pd_sim_b_5/026-2813846-6773266) or the slightly more modern [The Very Bloody History of Britain [sub]without the boring bits[/sub]](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Very-Bloody-History-Britain-Humour/dp/0099840103). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-english-history/460478/4 "2008-08-19T01:23:48Z")
If you’re looking for something somewhere between Schama and Sellar & Yeatman, I strongly recommned Robert Lacey’s three volume _Great Tales from English History_. He basically tells a cultural history of England - talking about the people and events that are famous to the English and formed their national identity. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-english-history/460478/5 "2008-08-19T04:58:11Z")
I’m going to go with the Schama, I think: at least the first volume, which is available at a reasonable used price. 🙂 Thanks for the help! (I needed something to read on a plane trip.) ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-english-history/460478/6 "2008-08-19T05:05:38Z")
I liked what I’ve read of Winston Churchill’s _A History of the English-Speaking Peoples_. It may not be the best historically – I thought I detected a bit of a political bias in parts, and more knowledgeable readers would probably see more of that. But the language is magnificent, and it’s really enjoyable to read. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-english-history/460478/7 "2008-08-19T07:04:14Z")
I’m already reading Churchill’s “Memoirs of the Second World War.” He’s quite capable as a writer but, as you say, his biases and his ego are a bit telling. If anybody has earned a little ego, I think Churchill has, though. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-english-history/460478/8 "2008-08-19T12:33:51Z")
[QUOTE=Fish] I’m going to go with the Schama, I think: at least the first volume, which is available at a reasonable used price. 🙂 Thanks for the help! (I needed something to read on a plane trip.) [/QUOTE] I came here to recommend Schama. His books are very readable - I’ve actually read the series twice, just to enjoy his prose. Bear in mind that the first couple of chapters of Book 1 are a bit slow. Bear with them and you’ll get to the good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-english-history/460478/9 "2008-08-19T12:42:45Z")
Bill Bryson’s _Notes From A Small Island_ isn’t so much about English History as it is about England and English people; it’s a must read, and extremely funny as well! ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-english-history/460478/10 "2008-08-19T13:01:40Z")
Bryant’s [Set in a Silver Sea](http://www.amazon.com/Set-Silver-Sea-History-Britain/dp/0688039324) is a classic old-school history. And available for 1 cent from amazon marketplace, even as we speak. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-english-history/460478/11 "2008-08-19T13:57:57Z")
[QUOTE=Fish] I’m already reading Churchill’s “Memoirs of the Second World War.” He’s quite capable as a writer but, as you say, his biases and his ego are a bit telling. [/QUOTE] I like when he dismisses his opponents as “those who had hitherto been most slothful and purblind”. You just don’t hear that kind of rhetoric in politics any more! ---
**Author:** ![SlowMindThinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@SlowMindThinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlowMindThinking)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-english-history/460478/12 "2008-08-19T21:57:22Z")
How about, “The Isles: A History” by Norman Davies. It covers England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, etc.