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    A Short History of England
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    A Short History of England
    Unavailable
    A Short History of England
    Audiobook9 hours

    A Short History of England

    Written by Simon Jenkins

    Narrated by Simon Jenkins

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    From the invaders of the dark ages to today's coalition, one of Britain's most respected journalists, Simon Jenkins, weaves together a strong narrative with all the most important and interesting dates in a book that is as stylish as it is authoritative. There have been long synoptic histories of England but until now there has been no standard short work covering all significant events, themes and individuals.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherW. F. Howes Audio
    Release dateMar 5, 2015
    ISBN9781471293580
    Unavailable
    A Short History of England
    Author

    Simon Jenkins

    Sir Simon Jenkins is an award-winning journalist and author of several books on the politics, history and architecture of England. He writes for the Guardian and the Sunday Times, as well as broadcasting for the BBC. He is the co-author of The Battle for the Falklands with Max Hastings. Jenkins was knighted for services to journalism in 2004.

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    Reviews for A Short History of England

    4/5

    76 ratings10 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Easy to read overview of England’s history. A small gripe that this is a very traditional retelling, down to Alfred burning the cakes. And it focuses almost exclusively on sovereigns and, more recently, government leaders. I would have preferred more social history thrown in.
    • 4/5
      In the final summary Jenkins writes "The message of history is that nations evolve most successfully when any change, social, economic or political, surges up from below". This appraisal may be opportune, but the below that effected such change for England is left in the shadows in this work for the benefit of the history, sometimes the gossip, of the prominent historical figures. In spite of this, the book was an enjoyable read for me and provided motivation for a more in-depth approach to English history.
    • 3/5
      The title of this book basically gives away everything that it is, namely A Short History of England. On a little more than 300 pages author Simon Jenkins provides a rough overview over England's history from the nation's birth until 2011. That in itself deserves some credit as I find this an astonishing feat.While I learned a lot about England that I did not know, I also found that I wanted and sometimes even needed more information at certain points. Seeing that the book only claims to be a 'short history' it is quite understandable that the chapters are not completely fleshed out with all the details. However, I found that sometimes this made understanding certain connections harder. Especially, there are a lot of kings and queens and their respective relations, motivations and backgrounds to process. On the whole, this book is certainly able to tell the story of England, but I will have to turn to more detailed volumes for a better understanding of certain chapters in English history.3 stars.
    • 3/5
      A very brief and chatty history of England (not Great Britain, so no Scotland, Ireland, or Wales). Informational, yet doesn't bog you down with dates. Focus was on politics, not monarchy, so after William III the book discusses Parliament and the Prime Ministers with occasional mentions of a monarch. Also, I would have loved some maps, especially in the early centuries and as a non-Brit.
    • 4/5
      Great quality performance - uses Criticality and multiple perspectives but could build more on this. Thatcher portrayed very well in this regard. Great to get it boiled down to 9 hours. Thanks for sharing.
    • 5/5
      A sharp, concise and thoughtful account of English history from before Hastings to Blair and Brown, but not Brexit. This is a pity, though hardly the author’s fault given when this was written; nevertheless a revised edition with an added chapter from Jenkins on Brexit would be welcome. Despite this I found this political history of England just the thing to bring clarity to my general sense of the English timeline and focus to my understanding of its major events.
    • 5/5
      A thoroughly fascinating read! I learned so many things about English history that I didn't know. A more detailed review to follow.
    • 3/5
      A exhaustative, yet not quite comprehensive of England through he ages. Each of the chapters deals either with a king, queen or prime minister, and is set up in bite sized chunks, but unfortunately this is so dryly written it feels like a school textbook. Hard work in a lot more than a few places, this is for the reader who has more than a general interest, but neither the time, nor inclination to go into the whole thing in a lot more depth. I found this hard work and not quite as rewarding as I was hoping.
    • 3/5
      An entertaining, idiosyncratic and sometimes infuriatingly opinionated romp through the events, ideas and personalities in English history since the Dark Ages. For me the most interesting things were the asides on how historical events have enriched the language, and inevitably much of the subject matter was already familiar.
    • 4/5
      An excellent brief history of England. Jenkins does not offer any startlingly new interpretation of English history but he does write with his customary lucidity, and uses his journalistic experience to ensure that his story is always engaging.I was particularly impressed with his concise and clear recounting of both the Wars of the Roses and then the English Civil War - he recounts both these campaigns with great clarity, explaining the respective interests and motivations with great verve. He is also very strong on the political vacillations of Churchill's career, and on the whole pantheon of nineteenth century political history.All in all a verye njoyable and informative book.

      1 person found this helpful