Story Of Britain

by Patrick Dillon, P.J. Lynch (Illustrator), Martha Dillon (Illustrator)

The Story of Britain A narrative history of Britain from 1066 to the end of the 20th century. It celebrates the rich diversity of the people and culture of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. It covers all the great events in British history including the signing of Magna Carta, the Fire of London, the Gunpowder Plot, and the execution of Charles I. Full description

Genres: History, Nonfiction, British Literature, Reference, Childrens

352 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2010

About the author

There is more than one author with this name

Patrick Dillon lives in Kennington, where he runs a successful architectural practice. His first novel Truth was followed by Lies published by Michael Joseph.

Reviews

[Maggie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Look out! This book is filled with oversimplifications, misguided opinions, and errors. It is an introduction to the history, culture, and people of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. Timelines and color illustrations accompany a narrative with a style that is well-suited for young readers. Unfortunately, glaring errors, misspellings, and misleading statements abound. Here are some examples.
According to page 81, medieval scholars believed nothing ever changes. Page 292 has the Russian Revolution appear bloodless, and states that Communists “gave factories to workers.” Despite the record of generosity of the U.S., page 327 states “…in America anyone who talked about sharing things or looking after the poor was accused of being a Communist.” The words “rich” and “getting rich” are repeatedly used instead of the terms economy, trade and prosperity. On page 40, “Muslims maintained the civilized way of life of the Roman Empire.” Page 325 states “Religion stops people from thinking fairly…” which ignores how committed Christians in England ended slavery. Page 314 states “Anne Frank … hid for two years in the attic of her father’s office.” In the section on WWII in North Africa, page 313 calls Rommel a soldier and Montgomery a General. Americans are not mentioned. Concerning the Nazi invasions, page 305 states, “Britain was the last free country left in Europe,” which ignores the unoccupied neutral countries. Shading in the map of the British Empire in 1900 excludes Hong Kong, Gibraltar, British Honduras, Bermuda, and the Falkland Islands, but includes all Caribbean islands!

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

While it is to be expected that condensing a thousand years of history into 300-some pages written for children will simplify complex matters quite a bit, nevertheless there are some serious problems with such anti-religious statements as, "Religion stops people thinking fairly because it makes them sure they're right and everyone else is wrong." Wow - that's a heavy dose of unadulterated venom set forth for kids to swallow. There are numerous times when this book blames religion for problems, often in an overly-simplistic way. However, it neglects to point out how the great communist and fascist dictatorships of the 20th century were atheistic. There is no mention in the discussion of Stalin of his slaughter of millions.

There are other errors as well. Since slavery in America was not abolished until 1865, it is clearly wrong for the author to state (in the section on the Peterloo Massacre of 1819) that, "In America all men could vote, but aristocrats thought that far too dangerous for Britain."

I can't really explain why the map of the British Empire in 1900 clearly shows Cuba as part of it. Hmmmm. What else about this book is flawed?

Overall, one gets the feeling that this is British history rewritten through the eyes of the 21st century secular liberal. Lots of apology for the empire.

[Debbie Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This very readable history had snippets of unusual information,Dunkirk for example. However there was clear bias in the presentation, some sloppy copy editing (words run together). And a few hysterical (intentionally?) sentences: British sailors weren't used to the heat of the Caribbean, its deep blue sea (that's a problem for sailors?) or jungles full of parrots. (p. 151). Oh, horrors, parrots (Monty Python is now completely explained!).
However, for a quick, very readable review of history it is very good ...we need one for all countries!

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wrote this book to be a VERY concise overview of the sweep of Britiah history.

So I loved it as I "reread" it. I needed the quick global view of everything. 2 pages of William Wallace, then 2 pages of the Bruce. 2 pages of Bloody Mary, and I finally understand exactly what she did. There were so many historical figures and events that I had heard of and only had a vague idea of what really happened. So that's what the light brigade did and who William and Mary are.

It is obviously very quick and simple, but it's great for YA readers and really most adults. I have only one reservation: while justly criticizing Crusaders, Muslim terrorists, and the religious civil wars in England, the author reveals a very secular bias, criticizing ALL deeply religious people as too fanatic and willing to kill others. He makes 3 or 4 sweeping generalizations like that in the book. Otherwise, I loved it and highly recommend it.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this! The chapters were short and easy to read, and this really helped me organize my thoughts about all things British that I've read and heard over the years. Two complaints - dates weren't always included until the summary at the end of each section. And, it included a bit too much 'fiction' for me. This made it easy to read, but still, it is someone's opinion/educated guess about people's thoughts at the time.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last time I was in London, I saw this when looking for books for my kids, but picked it up for myself. It's the history of Britain, written as short (2-3 page) stories for kids. I had tried reading British history before but it's too vast (and, to an outsider, too boring). But this book was perfect: digestible bits of history told in quick, interesting stories. Also, the book's willingness to admit historical mistakes is refreshing.

[Liz E · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was enthusiastic for this book as an alternative to the older Our Island Story, but I found the writing more like a children’s encyclopedia. The chapters are not detailed or engaging enough to make for a good read-aloud (which I suppose it isn’t designed to be). Frequently the descriptors of people and groups are dismissively simple (e.g. “stupid” multiple times in the medieval section) - at first seems modern but then gets boring.

[Diann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so glad this lovely book published by Candlewick was accidentally shelved with the adult history - I never would have found it otherwise. Written to upper elementary-early junior high readers, with some created dialogue and clear bias, it provided for me a pleasant and memorable way to remember the events and people in British history and their impact on the commoners.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is aimed at kids, sorta, though I’m not clear what kid would read this all. I got it with the idea it might provide some background on British history for my 11-year old daughter before our family trip to England, but she wasn’t interested. She said she looked through it but it didn’t tell her what it said it would. 🤷🏻‍♀️
However I started reading it to fill in some gaps in my own understanding of British history and I ended up reading it almost cover to cover. It is written for a middle grade reading level and there is some simplification of difficult concepts, but it helped clarify for me some bits of British history that I hadn’t really understood or had conflated, especially for chronologies of the Tudors and Stuarts.
Specifically, I had managed to conflate, in my mind Henry II / Thomas Becket and Henry VIII/ Thomas More. (8 Henry’s plus Thomases Becket, Wolsey, Cromwell, and More doesn’t make for clarity, c’mon England, find a new name to try! David? Joseph? Sue?)
I also appreciated this book’s assistance in contextualizing Guy Fawkes and Oliver Cromwell and even in helping me to understand the relationship between Ireland, Wales and the greater UK.
In sum, I would totally recommend this as a way for an adult with a decent American education to fill in the gaps in the British education.

[Betty Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Confession here. Although my concentration as a history major was European hist0ry I did not take any English history because the only prod who caught it at 8 am was a nasty old man whose focus was dates and battles. I prefer a more contextual/survey approach, but I have to admit I have a big gap when I read York/Tudor/Stuart literature. This author really delivered the people, economic, power play approach that forms a fuller understanding of the past. Kudos!

[Sagar Jethani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tells a necessarily simplified story of the British Isles. A good introduction.

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I checked this out of the library, I didn't realize it was a YA book. I am not a YA, but I found this an easy to read overview. Great for giving a quick, simple introduction to key events.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

The perfect way to take on 800 years of British history - a 300 page children's book. Simple and enjoyable!

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good overview. I get it's for kids but I sort of wish it had gone into greater detail on some topics because otherwise you end up with a pretty black and white view of things.

[Ned Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

To put pen to paper and record a millennium of a country's history is a daunting task, especially if the country is England. To cover the topic in full would require several volumes and it would probably be an unprofitable venture. Then there is this particular record which is at the other end of the scale, brief, but an interesting book for people who have read it all before in a variety of books and covered it as a child at school. The paragraphs touch the mind and the memory produces matters learned long ago, matters that cannot be covered in such a brief account as this.
The book is easy to read; at first its schoolroom style can be an insult to ones dignity but the next paragraph has more facts which spurs the reader on.
There are two problems with the book. The first being the obvious absence of many important facts, and the second issue is the lack of dates as the events occur. After each section there is a timeline but that is cumbersome when reading the eBook version.

[Sophie]

As with all history books, there are some parts in this book that don't match up with my knowledge of history (who knows what happened before we were alive). I really enjoyed it and instead of it just telling you the facts it actually tells them as a story that happened to real people. The style of writing is really nice to read.

[Sm · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is everything it intended to be. A time line in story form. While scholars might argue with the oversimplifications I regard it as highly useful and successful economy of style.

There is almost too much to absorb, but I felt as though I learned a great deal. Distilling history to a child's level. Excellent highly recommended.

[Sandrine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic, my children love it and we all really enjoyed seeing the author talk about it a few weeks ago at the Bath Literary Festival.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoroughly enjoyable overview of British history from Roman Britannia to the present. Engagingly written and quite informative.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview of Britain's long and complicated history. The illustrations were nice, but there should've been more!

[goodbyewaffles · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a cool book! Lots of history in entertaining and wonderfully brief vignettes. As a lazy reader, I wish it had more pictures (especially because the existing illustrations are lovely).

[Horace Mann Family Reading Challenge · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a good casual narrative describing the history of Britain in detail since 1066. T.S.

[Hilary Chan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy to follow and digest for young readers or beginners on British history. I gave 3 stars, however, because of too much over-simplification, presumptive conclusions and inaccurate metaphors.

[Nicole Welle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captivating story. A couple spots were a bit risque for my young children, so I did skip over a few lines.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed for LMC Magazine.