Audiobook7 hours
The Shortest History of England: Empire and Division from the Anglo-Saxons to Brexit—A Retelling for Our Times
Written by James Hawes
Narrated by Jonathan Cowley
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
()
About this audiobook
England-begetter of parliaments and globe-spanning empires, star of beloved period dramas, and home of the House of Windsor-is not quite the stalwart island fortress that many of us imagine. Riven by an ancient fault line that predates even the Romans, its fate has ever been bound up with that of its neighbors; and for the past millennia, it has harbored a class system like nowhere else on Earth.
This bracing tour of the most powerful country in the United Kingdom reveals an England repeatedly invaded and constantly reinvented-yet always fractured by its very own Mason-Dixon Line. It carries us swiftly through centuries of conflict between Crown and Parliament (starring the Magna Carta), America's War of Independence, the rise and fall of empire, two World Wars, and England's break from the EU. We discover: why the American colonists of 1776 believed that they were the true Anglo-Saxons, how the British Empire was undermined from within, why Winston Churchill said the UK could only be saved by splitting up England itself, and how populism spawned Brexit and its "new elite."
The Shortest History of England brings all this and more to prescient life-offering the most direct, compelling route to understanding the country behind today's headlines.
This bracing tour of the most powerful country in the United Kingdom reveals an England repeatedly invaded and constantly reinvented-yet always fractured by its very own Mason-Dixon Line. It carries us swiftly through centuries of conflict between Crown and Parliament (starring the Magna Carta), America's War of Independence, the rise and fall of empire, two World Wars, and England's break from the EU. We discover: why the American colonists of 1776 believed that they were the true Anglo-Saxons, how the British Empire was undermined from within, why Winston Churchill said the UK could only be saved by splitting up England itself, and how populism spawned Brexit and its "new elite."
The Shortest History of England brings all this and more to prescient life-offering the most direct, compelling route to understanding the country behind today's headlines.
Author
James Hawes
James Hawes is the author of the internationally acclaimed Shortest History of Germany. He has published a biography of Kafka (‘absolutely brilliant and utterly infuriating’ –The Guardian) and Englanders & Huns, the real story of the fatal Anglo-German antagonism (‘full of enlightening surprises’ –The Times).
Related to The Shortest History of England
Related audiobooks
The Shortest History of Germany: From Julius Caesar to Angela Merkel-A Retelling for Our Times Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Shortest History of China: From the Ancient Dynasties to a Modern Superpower - A Retelling for Our Times Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Shortest History of Greece: The Odyssey of a Nation from Myth to Modernity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Shortest History of War: From Hunter-Gatherers to Nuclear Superpowers—A Retelling for Our Times Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Shortest History of the Soviet Union Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings1916-1923 Irish Revolution Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe President and the Assassin: McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Waiter in Paris: Adventures in the Dark Heart of the City Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Shortest History of Democracy: 4,000 Years of Self-Government-A Retelling for Our Times Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHHhH Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Million Years in a Day: A Curious History of Everyday Life From the Stone Age to the Phone Age Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sparks: China's Underground Historians and Their Battle for the Future Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLethal Passage: The Story of a Gun Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Watch that Ends the Night Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMaine Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUndelivered: The Never-Heard Speeches That Would Have Rewritten History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Jungle Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Mozart in Motion: His Work and His World in Pieces Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnfamiliar Fishes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Shortest History of Our Universe: The Unlikely Journey from the Big Bang to Us Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nuts and Bolts: Seven Small Inventions That Changed the World (in a Big Way) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Closeted: My Life as a Gay BYU Student Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNPR American Chronicles: World War I Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Shortest History of Israel and Palestine: From Zionism to Intifadas and the Struggle for Peace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Road to Valor: A True Story of World War II Italy, the Nazis, and the Cyclist Who Inspired a Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Story of China: The Epic History of a World Power from the Middle Kingdom to Mao and the China Dream Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Shortest History of Europe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All Against All: The Long Winter of 1933 and the Origins of the Second World War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
European History For You
Sovietistan: Travels in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Iron, Fire and Ice: The Real History that Inspired Game of Thrones Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Our Hideous Progeny: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The War on the West Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Professor and The Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Teutonic Knights: A Military History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Templars: The History and the Myth: From Solomon's Temple to the Freemasons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England: 400 – 1066 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Killing England: The Brutal Struggle for American Independence Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: with Pearl and Sir Orfeo Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Faithful Executioner: Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Immortal Irishman: The Irish Revolutionary Who Became an American Hero Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ghost Map Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Over My Dead Body: Unearthing the Hidden History of American Cemeteries Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Battle of Brothers: William and Harry – The Inside Story of a Family in Tumult Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Middle Ages 101, The: Medieval History and Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Shortest History of England
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
0 ratings0 reviews