Warrior Race: A History of the British at War

by Lawrence James

Modern Britain is a nation shaped by wars. The boundaries of its separate parts are the outcome of conquest and resistance. The essence of its identity are the warrior heroes, both real and imagined, who still capture the national from Boadicea to King Arthur, Rob Roy to Henry V, the Duke of Wellington to Winston Churchill. It is a sense of identity that grew under careful cultivation during the global struggles of the eighteenth century, and found its most powerful expression during the world wars of the twentieth.

In Warrior Race , Lawrence James investigates the role played by war in the making of Britain. Drawing on the latest historical and archaeological research, as well as numerous unfamiliar and untapped resources, he charts the full reach of British military the physical and psychological impact of Roman military occupation; the monarchy’s struggle for mastery of the British Isles; the civil wars of the seventeenth century; the “total war” experience of twentieth-century conflict.

But Warrior Race is more than just a compelling historical narrative. Lawrence James skillfully pulls together the momentous themes of his subject. He discusses how war has continually been a catalyst for social and political change, the rise, survival, and reinvention of chivalry, the literary quest for a British epic, the concept of birth and breeding as the qualifications for command in war, and the issues of patriotism and Britain’s antiwar tradition.
Warrior Race is popular history at its very incisive, informative, and accessible; immaculately researched and hugely readable. Balancing the broad sweep of history with an acute attention to detail, Lawrence James never loses sight of this most fascinating and enduring of the question of British national identity and character.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Military History, Military Fiction, British Literature

880 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Edwin James Lawrence, most commonly known as Lawrence James, is an English historian and writer.

James graduated with a BA in English & History from the University of York in 1966, and subsequently undertook a research degree at Merton College, Oxford. Following a career as a teacher, James became a full-time writer in 1985.

James has written several works of popular history about the British Empire, and has contributed pieces for Daily Mail, The Times and the Literary Review.

Reviews

[David Bird · Rating 2 out of 5]

Imagine going to a reunion of someone else's family, where those present tell the stories, over and over, that make up the shared identity of the family. Those telling the stories don't particularly think about what they say about the family, or ask if they are true; if a cousin objects, he's just fulfilling his usual role as a complainer.

That's the experience that this book offers to a non-Englishman. The blurbs on the jacket stress the author's skill with anecdote; there is not much else to talk about. He doesn't question what the implications of the anecdotes are, or whether an outsider would accept the self-assessment that they present. Early in the book, when the sources are no doubt ecclesiastical chroniclers, James mentions the English being aided in battle by angels with pretty much the same bland acceptance employs to describe the aid of Lend-Lease. He repeats conventional remarks deploring racism while blandly repeating racial stereotype reactions to the presence of African-American GIs.

In some ways, the British of James are comparable to the Americans of Stephen Ambrose: each author repeats the respective self-description of WW II, where one's own forces are man for man, superior to the Wehrmacht. One can see the attraction of self-delusion, but I prefer truth to ethnic narcissism in my historians.

[Goethicus · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolute tripe, disorganized and an exercise in nationalistic mental masturbation.

[Alastair Manderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lord Nelson - what a guy.
Duke of Wellington - what a guy.
Churchill - what a guy.

[Grey Wolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure I agree with all his conclusions but a fascinating overview, and exposing a lot of the dark underbelly of British imperial service

[ActionScientist · Rating 4 out of 5]

My roots. I've read large chunks of most parts of the book.

A coloured man remarked to me the other day "you English are so hard on each other".

I am reminded of a word of wisdom I learned from an old warrior: we treat others like we treat ourselves.

[Warren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting analysis of British military power and its fade into obscurity in the second half of the 20th century

[Colonelrexford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent overview of British military history.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF almost halfway through. I was going to wait to DNF until after the third part, but I just couldn't handle slogging through another section of anecdotes about British wars if he's not going to give a lot of background information on the war the part is focused on.

This book may have value for someone who likes military history, but for me it was long and dull. James treats all his historical anecdotes as objective truth, including one that claims magical feats by early Christian evangelicals, so even if there was interesting analysis, I'd have to take it with an entire shaker of salt.

[Grindy Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is better than its rating would let on. The first part of the book deals extensively with who in the British Isles were fighting with whom from the days of the Romans to the Tudors, invaluable for those trying to keep those warrior races distinct as well as what their motivations are. Credit to the author for leaving the Royal Navy by and large out of this, there are dozens of histories about it already. The only shabby part is the bit covering the 18th century, though again there are several dozen books about the French-Indian War and the American Revolution.

[Iain Hamill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating book.

Obviously lots more that could be said but I was ready to reach page 864...

Different style to many history books, still broadly chronological but with a strong thematic emphasis. I can understand the claims that's it's somewhat biased towards the British, but it is by a British author, about the British. I think there's also a good case to be made that the British more than any other nation have dominated global warfare/strategy for the longest period.

Great to read more of the earlier skirmishes across the UK, wasn't as familiar with early Scottish/Irish battle history.

The courage and resourcefulness of the heroes of the battlefield was inspiring again and again, but the overall impression was one of the senseless and pain of much warfare.

To poorly paraphrase Priestley on survivors of WW2, on completion of the tome one feels rather like a train passenger having completed a long night journey and emerging into the first light of dawn, having for one seeming endless transit discovering the lofty sense of shared community.