English history is a vast and complicated story, made more so since 1707 by the question of where ‘English’ ends and ‘British’ begins. The long sweep of time from the first anonymous occupants of a nameless landscape to the regional government proposals of New Labour is a daunting, but also an exhilarating thing to contemplate.
Continuity and change, opposing but also complimentary forces, underlie the sequence of events in England’s history. But what is really important is a sense of the nation’s resources: with such a variety of human habitats and possibilities for human experience, England was an all-in-all for its people for many centuries, self-sufficient in the essentials of life.
But such a variety within a small compass also explains why the English as a nation can seem so elusive, a ‘secret people’ in G.K. Chesterton’s words. There is no single English type, but rather a whole range of them, often with conflicting characteristics. It is as English to put on a red coat and hunt foxes as it is to hold up a placard and block the road in protest against blood sports. All this has made for an independent-minded, versatile and creative people. The roots and the development of English distinctiveness are the basic themes of this book.
In an excellent condition. No creasing to the cover or spine. All pages are clean …