In Search of England: Journeys into the English Past
From the popular television historian whose previous books includeIn Search of the Trojan WarandIn the Footsteps of Alexander the Greatcomes this study of a pressing question: Now thatBritainseems to be an increasingly meaningless concept, what does it mean to be English?Michael Woodtraces an answer through many of the most cherished national myths, such as Robin Hood, King Arthur, Alfred the Great, and the mysteries of Glastonbury. As you would expect from Wood, he ranges about over the whole of England, rather than sticking to the obvious places. He visits Tinsley Wood near Sheffield, claimed as the site of Athelstan's great victory over the Celts in A.D. 937. He finds a farmhouse in Devon that has been continuously occupied for 1000 years and a village in Leicestershire where the local peasantry confronted the king's soldiers in 1265 to tell them that they were violating the rights of "the common people of England." The book also boasts a wonderful, judicious collection of reproductions of old posters and paintings showing how English forebears, particularly the Victorians, imaginatively recreated the country's past in their own image. Timely, readable, and fascinating, this is popular history at its very best.--Christopher Hart, Amazon.co.uk--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.