The Making of Wales

by John Davies

A full color survey of the history of Wales.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

160 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1996

About the author

John Davies (1938-2015) was a Welsh historian and a television and radio broadcaster. After teaching Welsh history at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, he retired to Cardiff and appeared frequently as a presenter and contributor to history programmes on television and radio.

In the mid-eighties, Davies was commissioned to write a concise history of Wales by Penguin Books to add to its Pelican series of the histories of nations. The decision by Penguin to commission the volume in Welsh was "unexpected and highly commendable," wrote Davies. "I seized the opportunity to write of Wales and the Welsh. When I had finished, I had a typescript which was almost three times larger than the original commission," wrote Davies. The original voluminous typescript was first published in hardback under the Allen Lane imprint. Davies took a sabbatical from his post at the University College of Wales and wrote most of the chapters while touring Europe. Hanes Cymru was translated into English and published in 1993, as there was "a demand among English-speakers to read what was already available to Welsh-speakers," wrote Davies. A revised edition was published (in both languages) in 2007.

In 2005, Davies received the Glyndŵr Award for an Outstanding Contribution to the Arts in Wales during the Machynlleth Festival. He won the 2010 Wales Book of the Year for Cymru: Y 100 lle i'w gweld cyn marw.

Reviews

[Ivan Monckton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reasonable run through the affects man has had on the Welsh landscape from prehistory onwards. I liked the fact that the author goes out of his way to achieve a balance between lords and peasants, rich and poor. The down side is the CADW trait of long captions to all the illustrations, which is repeated, almost word for word in the text on the same page.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick, interesting read with lots of lovely pictures. I appreciated the author’s expertise and opinions.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

The combination of the author's encyclopedic knowledge of the history of Wales and the numerous photos and sketches he selects from a variety of archival sources combine to make this a relatively brief, highly informative and very pleasurable overview of the history of Wales viewed from the perspective of the evolution of its landscape and buildings.

[Andrew Matheson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not an in-depth study by any stretch, it does provide an interesting overview of how Wales has been shaped through human intervention. This book made me even more interested in visiting Wales to explore the history first hand.