The Birth of Modern Britain: A Journey Into Britain's Archaeological Past: 1550 to the Present

Britain #4

by Francis Pryor

From the author of 'Britain BC', 'Britain AD' and 'Britain in the Middle Ages' comes the fourth and final part in a critically acclaimed series on Britain's hidden past

Genres: History, Archaeology, British Literature

299 pages, Hardcover

First published February 17, 2011

About the author

Francis Manning Marlborough Pryor MBE (born 13 January 1945) is a British archaeologist who is famous for his role in the discovery of Flag Fen, a Bronze Age archaeological site near Peterborough, and for his frequent appearances on the Channel 4 television series Time Team.

He has now retired from full-time field archaeology, but still appears on television and writes books as well as being a working farmer. His specialities are in the Bronze and Iron Ages.

His first novel, Lifers’ Club, is due to be published in 2014.

Reviews

[zed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fine book from Mr Pryor who is always easy to read and always has new ideas to explain.

[Martin Empson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Often the most illuminating parts of Pryor's books are were he draws on personal experience to help the reader understand an archaeological dig or a particular monument. In this book though, the reader is drowned in random, personal anecdotes. He tells us how he gets out of the car to photograph a particular view or enjoys an encounter with an attractive young woman who recognises him from television. But these rarely serve to illuminate the history he is recounting and often seem a bit tacked on. It is almost like Pryor sees himself as the key to understanding British history, rather than the evidence he is presenting us with.

Full review: http://resolutereader.blogspot.co.uk/...

[A W · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an informative, if on occasion somewhat rushed canter through five centuries of British history, as told by the stones buried under our green and pleasant land. Pryor has an unflagging enthusiasm for even the most, seemingly, uninspiring artefacts that is infectious.

This enthusiasm is something that compensates for his tendency to lapse into not always interesting biographical anecdotes and regular grumps about the failings of his fellow academics and modern society in general. After all, one of the perks of being an historian is getting to exercise your favourite hobby horses in print.

There other flaws present that are less easy to ignore. This is a short book trying to cover a long period. As a result, Pryor often gallops through information that a longer text with a tighter focus might have stopped to examine in depth.

There are also some disappointing omissions due to the breakneck pace needed to get from the end of the Middle Ages to the start of the current century in just under three hundred pages. For example, Pryor says very little about pubs, sports grounds and places of entertainment. This is particularly annoying since he, quite rightly, emphasises the connection between archaeology and social history.

Despite its failings this is still a worthwhile read for anyone with an interest in our nation's long history and the marks it has left on the landscape.

[Isblue · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finished it, which I count as a win. It dragged and that wasn't what I was expecting from a book by Francis Pryor.

[Celia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book because I wanted to understand modern society better. I read Francis Pryor's previous book "The History of the British landscape" and I enjoyed it and found it gave me a much better understanding of society, for example the distance of the hills forts are a certain distance and time progress the distances became greater as stronger hill forts gain control of smaller hill forts lands. I though I would try the same approach for Modern History. It didn't work . I don't know is it because modern history falls between different disciplines. There seems to be no cohesive narrative the parts are not brought together to tell the bigger picture. It is a sequences of isolated facts. I don't know. Though there are gems eg 16-17 century the lords started separating the social lives from the underclass, no feasting halls small intimate dining with their social equals. I wanted get a better understand on the history on how we became individuals rather than part of a larger social group, such as a village. This book did not give me that, maybe I will give it a re-read but at the moment I did not get what I wanted out of the book. Maybe I wanted too much from this book.