English history made brief, irreverent, and pleasurable / Lacey Baldwin Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, Lacey Baldwin, 1922-2013, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Great Britain--History.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (274 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chicago, Illinois : Academy Chicago Publishers, 2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Here at last is a history of England that is designed to entertain as well as inform and that will delight the armchair traveler, the tourist or just about anyone interested in history. No people have engendered quite so much acclaim or earned so much censure as the English: extolled as the Athenians of modern times, yet hammered for their self-satisfaction and hypocrisy. But their history has been a spectacular one. The guiding principle of this book's heretical approach is that "history is not everything that happened, but what is worth remembering about the past.. . .". Thus, its chapters deal mainly with "Memorable History" in blocks of time over the centuries. The final chapter "The Royal Soap Opera," recounts the achievements, personalities and idiocies of the royal family since the arrival of William the Conqueror in 1066. Spiced with dozens of hilarious cartoons from Punch and other publications, English History will be a welcome and amusing tour of a land that has always fascinated Anglophiles and Anglophobes alike.

Contents:

""Front Cover""; ""Title Page""; ""Half Title""; ""Copyright""; ""Dedication""; ""Contents""; ""Chapter I. Words od Encouragement and Commiseration""; ""Chapter II. Matters of Geography, Demography and Terminology""; ""Chapter III. History Worth Remembering (to 1485)""; ""In the Beginning""; ""Stonehenge""; ""The Comings and Goings of the Romans (33 BC to 410 AD)""; ""The Anglo-Saxons and Ethnic Cleansing (410 to 1066)""; ""The Vikings and King Alfred""; ""Christianity""; ""Law and Order""; ""Duke William and the Norman Conquest (1066)""; ""Feudalism""; ""Chivalry""; ""Domesday Book (1066)""

""Short-Circuiting the System""""The Common Law and the Jury System""; ""Upping the Fiscal Ante""; ""Magna Charter (1215)""; ""The Origin of Parliament""; ""The Three Edwards (1272�1377)""; ""Piety and Progress""; ""Sad Stories of the Death of Kings (1377�1485)""; ""Chapter IV. More Memorable History (1485 to 1964)""; ""Henry VII, The First of the Tudors (1485�1509)""; ""Henry VIII and the Reconstruction of England (1509�1547)""; ""The Little Tudors (1547�1558)""; ""Elizabeth I, The “Unlooked-for Miracle� (1558�1603)""; ""The Gentry""; ""Hot and Cold War (1567�1603)""

""James I and VI or Mary Stuart�s Revenge (1603�1625)""""The Planting of Colonies""; ""Charles I�A Better Martyr than Monarch (1625�1649)""; ""The Interregnum and the Search for Legality""; ""Charles II and the Restored Monarchy (1660�1685)""; ""The Glorious Revolution (1688�1691)""; ""Sir Isaac Newton and the “Happy Childhood of Science�""; ""War with France, The First Phase (1689�1713)""; ""London, “The Emporium of the World�""; ""Two Out of Four Georges (1715�1760)""; ""Britain Cut Down to Size: The American Revolution (1776�1781)""

""Four Revolutions: Industrial, Agricultural, Demographic, and Spiritual""""Revolution French Style""; ""Still More War with France (1793�1815)""; ""Final Triumph and Peace Settlement (1815)""; ""The Aftermath of War (1815�1832)""; ""The Flood Gates Are Opened (1832)""; ""The Angry Path to Political Democracy (1832�1913)""; ""Conservatives vs. Liberals: Disraeli vs. Gladstone""; ""Pax Britannia and the World�s First Superpower""; ""Optimism, Classical Liberalism, and Victorian Morality""; ""The Economic Facts of Life (1875�1914)""; ""The New Imperialism""

""The End of Splendid Isolation (1900�1914)""""Confidence Shaken (1900�1914)""; ""Total War, The First Go Around (1914�1918)""; ""A Weary Giant; The Inter-War Years (1918�1939)""; ""One War Too Many: World War, The Final Phase (1939�1945)""; ""Utopia Limited (1945�1951)""; ""Finis Britanniae (1947�1964)""; ""Chapter V. Less and Less Memorable History (1964 to the Present) ""; ""Hard Times""; ""Economic Suicide""; ""Thatcherism""; ""The Irish Question Again, or Who Cares About the UK?""; ""More Slings and Arrows""; ""“We Happy Few�""; ""Chapter VI. The Royal Soap Opera""

""William I (1066�1087)""

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781322317083

1322317089

9780897336703

0897336704

OCLC:

896800045