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These Isles: A People’s History of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales
An inventive new look at the entwined histories of Britain and Ireland’s nations – and the people who have called them home.
Brian Groom, author of the bestselling Northerners, reveals a colourful and often-contested story of the Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Normans and others who have occupied these islands, along with their culture, languages and passions.
Groom explores the role of religion and the British Empire, international diasporas and internal migration, gender relations and war in this entertaining narrative.
With forays into popular culture, sport, music, language, literature and art, These Isles stretches from 800,000-year-old footprints on a Norfolk beach to the changing fortunes of the early 21st century. It offers a uniquely rich and kaleidoscopic vision of the shared stories of people across Britain and Ireland – past and present.
Brian Groom, author of the bestselling Northerners, reveals a colourful and often-contested story of the Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Normans and others who have occupied these islands, along with their culture, languages and passions.
Groom explores the role of religion and the British Empire, international diasporas and internal migration, gender relations and war in this entertaining narrative.
With forays into popular culture, sport, music, language, literature and art, These Isles stretches from 800,000-year-old footprints on a Norfolk beach to the changing fortunes of the early 21st century. It offers a uniquely rich and kaleidoscopic vision of the shared stories of people across Britain and Ireland – past and present.
320 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 26, 2026
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 19, 2026
One of the worst history books I’ve ever suffered through.
Brian Groom is a great guy. His heart is genuinely in the right place, whose blockbuster history “Northerners” in 2022 was superb. It was peppy and covered the north of England to a degree I’d not seen done seriously. His follow up focusing on Manchester was less impressive, but it was still clearly good natured. His most recent sweeping history of the British isles is crushingly dull.
The big weakness here might be formatting. Certain books do not work in audiobook. My biggest issue with Groom’s These Isles is that it frequently turns into a list of famous people’s names and their place of birth rather than something analytical, thought through or focused. This becomes egregious in the latter chapters which fail to explain or wrestle with the big historical questions. Instead, it is a basic list of “thing” + “person who did thing” + “place of birth” and then multiple by other people from a similar region. It is so frustrating that it took me a while to actually appreciate how bad this technique was. Which is where the book being an audiobook might come into play; were this something on page, you can skip those big lists and focus on the small pieces of narration in between the lists.
Either way, there is an editing issue here, where Groom was likely given advice to tone up or down the amount of famous people lists. That said, how it can carry a subtitle of proclaiming to being a “people’s history” is beyond me. Whilst that phrase might seem appropriate for a book listing so many famous people, in history a “people’s history” would more commonly be used as marketing shorthand for a “social history”. This is where history is told from the perspective of the people who lived through it, typically those without political power but with the socio-economic relevance to enabling the people in power to continue governing. These Isles does none of this, and for the first half present a very top down view of the medieval period, whilst the more modern sections almost entirely focus on the most expected characters.
It’s a very confusing approach, and not one I liked a little. Even the points plucked out to build this history are well worn. Groom had an opportunity to prepare something that dug into the core question of how ‘these isles’ actually interact against one another. When he does this, the book works really well, for example in the consideration of medieval Wales or catholic Scotland. The consideration given to Ireland is a mixed bag, with Groo doing a good job of analysing England’s economic genocide through the 19th century famine, but a really slapdash piece on the late 20th century civil war. But even these kinds of moments are rare, as the book is so littered with parochial lists of people who did one thing of relevance.
Whether it is formatting or editing, the book is nowhere near as good as it ought to be. There is some aspiring undergraduate out there who could take all of the effort put into this assembly of people and make something genuinely brilliant. Groom has prepared a wonderful encyclopaedia for the fun fact mafia, but nothing with actual analytical merit or purpose. I say this being someone who was really looking forward to this release and am disappointed not to be writing a more praiseworthy review.
In a time of division and difficulty, a new narrative around the British isles was sorely needed. A national story covering the whole span of the people’s history would have been brilliant. But there is no point or purpose to this history, it is simply an account of what some people did. It is missing the key step of why anyone should pay attention, how those actions mattered at the time and what they mean to contemporary readers. The ultimate failing in the whole piece is that not once, in a whole 9 hours did I feel any sense of empathy or understanding of how people lived their lives long ago.
On the whole, a bad history book, a bad book and something to only recommend to the most persnickety of people who like knowing trivia more than thinking critically.
Brian Groom is a great guy. His heart is genuinely in the right place, whose blockbuster history “Northerners” in 2022 was superb. It was peppy and covered the north of England to a degree I’d not seen done seriously. His follow up focusing on Manchester was less impressive, but it was still clearly good natured. His most recent sweeping history of the British isles is crushingly dull.
The big weakness here might be formatting. Certain books do not work in audiobook. My biggest issue with Groom’s These Isles is that it frequently turns into a list of famous people’s names and their place of birth rather than something analytical, thought through or focused. This becomes egregious in the latter chapters which fail to explain or wrestle with the big historical questions. Instead, it is a basic list of “thing” + “person who did thing” + “place of birth” and then multiple by other people from a similar region. It is so frustrating that it took me a while to actually appreciate how bad this technique was. Which is where the book being an audiobook might come into play; were this something on page, you can skip those big lists and focus on the small pieces of narration in between the lists.
Either way, there is an editing issue here, where Groom was likely given advice to tone up or down the amount of famous people lists. That said, how it can carry a subtitle of proclaiming to being a “people’s history” is beyond me. Whilst that phrase might seem appropriate for a book listing so many famous people, in history a “people’s history” would more commonly be used as marketing shorthand for a “social history”. This is where history is told from the perspective of the people who lived through it, typically those without political power but with the socio-economic relevance to enabling the people in power to continue governing. These Isles does none of this, and for the first half present a very top down view of the medieval period, whilst the more modern sections almost entirely focus on the most expected characters.
It’s a very confusing approach, and not one I liked a little. Even the points plucked out to build this history are well worn. Groom had an opportunity to prepare something that dug into the core question of how ‘these isles’ actually interact against one another. When he does this, the book works really well, for example in the consideration of medieval Wales or catholic Scotland. The consideration given to Ireland is a mixed bag, with Groo doing a good job of analysing England’s economic genocide through the 19th century famine, but a really slapdash piece on the late 20th century civil war. But even these kinds of moments are rare, as the book is so littered with parochial lists of people who did one thing of relevance.
Whether it is formatting or editing, the book is nowhere near as good as it ought to be. There is some aspiring undergraduate out there who could take all of the effort put into this assembly of people and make something genuinely brilliant. Groom has prepared a wonderful encyclopaedia for the fun fact mafia, but nothing with actual analytical merit or purpose. I say this being someone who was really looking forward to this release and am disappointed not to be writing a more praiseworthy review.
In a time of division and difficulty, a new narrative around the British isles was sorely needed. A national story covering the whole span of the people’s history would have been brilliant. But there is no point or purpose to this history, it is simply an account of what some people did. It is missing the key step of why anyone should pay attention, how those actions mattered at the time and what they mean to contemporary readers. The ultimate failing in the whole piece is that not once, in a whole 9 hours did I feel any sense of empathy or understanding of how people lived their lives long ago.
On the whole, a bad history book, a bad book and something to only recommend to the most persnickety of people who like knowing trivia more than thinking critically.
Displaying 1 of 1 review