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The English and Their History
- Narrated by: Stephen Thorne
- Length: 45 hrs and 32 mins
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The English and Their History
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Summary
In The English and Their History, the first full-length account to appear in one volume for many decades, Robert Tombs gives us the history of the English people and of how the stories they have told about themselves have shaped them, from the prehistoric 'dreamtime' through to the present day.
If a nation is a group of people with a sense of kinship, a political identity and representative institutions, then the English have a claim to be the oldest nation in the world. They first came into existence as an idea, before they had a common ruler and before the country they lived in even had a name. They have lasted as a recognisable entity ever since, and their defining national institutions can be traced back to the earliest years of their history. The English have come a long way from those precarious days of invasion and conquest, with many spectacular changes of fortune.
Their political, economic and cultural contacts have left traces for good and ill across the world. This book describes their history and its meanings from their beginnings in the monasteries of Northumbria and the wetlands of Wessex to the cosmopolitan energy of today's England.
Robert Tombs draws out important threads running through the story, including participatory government, language, law, religion, the land and the sea, and the ever-changing relations with other peoples. Not the least of these connections are the ways the English have understood their own history, have argued about it, forgotten it, and yet been shaped by it. These diverse and sometimes conflicting understandings are an inherent part of their identity.
Rather to their surprise, as ties within the United Kingdom loosen, the English are suddenly beginning a new period in their long history. Especially at times of change, history can help us to think about the sort of people we are and wish to be.
This audiobook, the first single-volume work on this scale for more than half a century, and which incorporates a wealth of recent scholarship, presents a challenging modern account of this immense and continuing story, bringing out the strength and resilience of English government, the deep patterns of division, yet also the persistent capacity to come together in the face of danger.
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Critic reviews
"Learned, pithy and punchy, with a laudable sense of narrative sweep and a bracing willingness to offer bold judgments, [Tombs's] survey is a tremendous achievement, and deserves to become the standard history for years to come." (Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times)
"Packed with telling detail and told with gentle, sardonic wit...[a] vast and delightful book." (Ben Macintyre, The Times)
What listeners say about The English and Their History
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Cryptochimp
- 18-07-19
An excellent history of England
A magnificent narrative, cultural, and social history of England. I am Irish and this book gave me a comprehensive understanding of England and the English. A magnum opus of this quality deserved a first-rate narrator and Stephen Thorne does not disappoint; Thorne has a delightful voice and his tone and pitch are perfect for this text. Audio history at its best.
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1 person found this helpful
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- stu
- 23-03-18
reveiw
a huge amount of work has gone into this volume and the delivery made it a very enjoyable listen.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Jacqui Bray
- 23-07-17
An immense piece of work
An immense piece of work. Enough detail to give a flavour but obviously could not go into minute detail with so much history to recount.
Robert Tombs provides a mountain of references to support his writings and has found a relevant quote for every chapter, which would seem to show there has been some lifelong research into the subject matter.
I cannot imagine that this could have been accomplished without it.
The reader has a well spoken English accent which at first took me a while to get into but after a few hours I was in the zone.
The reader must be congratulated for telling the story for it is an epic and must have taken many more hours to complete than it takes to listen to.
This book has given me a greater undestanding of my heritage and perhaps also put into context the period of history we are experiencing at present...it occurs to me we have always been battling with our European neighbours and have the water between us to thank for our ability to keep ourselves so uniquely free of conqeust but this is also what has made us so diverse.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- a reader
- 06-07-17
Rich and fascinating
Must admit I haven't finished this yet but am so impressed I really wanted to put a quick review out : )
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- Andrew Crompton
- 12-04-22
English History
Loved this book and will definitely listen to it again, a great insight in to how the English are the worst and best nation.
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- Anonymous User
- 18-05-22
History, like travel, 'broadens the mind'.
The title for this review is a quote from the last page (page 891) of The English and Their History. This is a story I thought I knew. On most pages some well researched fact (there are 80 dense pages of references) added nuance or correction to my previous assumed knowledge. This book broadened my mind.
Robert Tombs's penultimate line says, 'I hope that a knowledge of history can help us to respect the past, understand the present, and be sensitive to the future.' I believe this book fulfills the author's hope.
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- Anonymous User
- 05-12-22
Good until his colours showed in the last century
a very thorough and fair retelling of history. His last 50 to 100 years showed his colours however.
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- Jolyon Berry
- 12-08-22
so good I had to buy the book
dense but gripping, I learnt so much but knew I'd never retain the information so had to get a hard copy for reference and will be re listening to, one day
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 15-08-20
Comprehensive and Insightful
Amazingly informative and rich knowledge of my home country.
40+ hours long but still only scratches the surface of many of the chapters in English history.
A great overview from Roman times until the present day to whet your appetite for parts of English history you wish to go and study in more detail.
Well worth it if you want a general overview of the history of England.
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- Susan
- 16-01-20
Loved this 'long' book.
I have just finished listening to this book, and have really enjoyed it. I love our history (English) and wasn't disappointed. It is a long book and thought at first that I would treat it as a History lesson as when I was at school, maybe listening to an hour a day, but it was so engaging I listened to it when I could. The narrator has a lovely voice and the hours flew by.I am retired now so my time is my own and although this is a long book I will surely listen again.
It is hard to describe all the events in the book because it is over one thousand years of History, You might already know of some of the events especially the up to date ones,but if you love History give this a go, you can always listen to it in stages , you might hate it or like me love it.
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