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England: The Autobiography - 2,000 Years of English History by Those Who Saw It Happen
Fountainhead of democracy, engine of the Industrial Revolution, epicentre of the globe's greatest empire and the first-ditch stand against an expansionist Germany in two world wars: England's history is among the most fascinating and influential the world has ever known.
This volume presents that history in unique form: first-hand, through the words of those who saw it and those who made it. All the great events of the last 2,000 years are here: the Norman Conquest, Magna Carta, the Peasants' Revolt, Henry VIII's break with Rome, the Great Fire of London, Nelson at Trafalgar, two world wars. Alongside these are the less obvious happenings which together capture the nation's social history, such as the Black Death of 1349 or life as a chimney sweep in 1817. And of couse there are the things that have shaped the nature of 'Englishness', like theatregoing in Elizabethan London, fox hunting in 1898, Oates's self-sacrifice at the South Pole, the Beatles and the 1966 World Cup.
Presented chronologically and a joy to read whether cover-to-cover or dipped into as a treasury of sources, England: The Autobiography offers an intimate, vivid and revealing portrait of England and the English - and the unique place of both in world history.
This volume presents that history in unique form: first-hand, through the words of those who saw it and those who made it. All the great events of the last 2,000 years are here: the Norman Conquest, Magna Carta, the Peasants' Revolt, Henry VIII's break with Rome, the Great Fire of London, Nelson at Trafalgar, two world wars. Alongside these are the less obvious happenings which together capture the nation's social history, such as the Black Death of 1349 or life as a chimney sweep in 1817. And of couse there are the things that have shaped the nature of 'Englishness', like theatregoing in Elizabethan London, fox hunting in 1898, Oates's self-sacrifice at the South Pole, the Beatles and the 1966 World Cup.
Presented chronologically and a joy to read whether cover-to-cover or dipped into as a treasury of sources, England: The Autobiography offers an intimate, vivid and revealing portrait of England and the English - and the unique place of both in world history.
446 pages, Hardcover
First published October 6, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 30, 2019
In this fascinating work, Lewis-Stempel pieces together 2000 years of England’s history from the Roman conquest to the 21st century. He does so, rather uniquely, by using the writings of contemporary authors with only minimal commentary.
With a work of this nature some readers are bound to be disappointed that certain events they consider to be of import are not included. Readers might also find that they would prefer a little more editorial commentary to link or explain the subjects chronicled. That would have been my personal preference. Ultimately, however, the author was forced to make a difficult choice between what could easily have become a bloated historical tome as opposed to an entertaining bedside read. And in his own words, he chose to let "the past speak for itself”. It is hard to argue overly much with the balance struck.
Overall, England: The Autobiography provides the reader with an intriguing historical tapestry, largely unvarnished by interpretation. I found it both entertaining and educational, and would recommend it to those interested in England’s history.
With a work of this nature some readers are bound to be disappointed that certain events they consider to be of import are not included. Readers might also find that they would prefer a little more editorial commentary to link or explain the subjects chronicled. That would have been my personal preference. Ultimately, however, the author was forced to make a difficult choice between what could easily have become a bloated historical tome as opposed to an entertaining bedside read. And in his own words, he chose to let "the past speak for itself”. It is hard to argue overly much with the balance struck.
Overall, England: The Autobiography provides the reader with an intriguing historical tapestry, largely unvarnished by interpretation. I found it both entertaining and educational, and would recommend it to those interested in England’s history.
December 19, 2016
The first-hand accounts are all very well, but they most follow the hackeyed "1066 and all that" approach to history being all about the great and the good, "good things" and "bad things", and England -- yes, Scotland, Ireland and Wales are all dismissed -- as "top nation". There are a few gems, however, when the author comes up with more original sources, like the hilarious court records from medieval Kings Norton.
October 26, 2010
This is a book that my wife picked up for me several years ago during her first visit to England. I was still active duty Air Force and stationed in Germany and was unable to get away for that trip although was fortunate enough to be able to go the next year.
This book, England, The Autobiography, edited by John Lewis-Stemple, is a collection of first-hand accounts of English history written by English men and women from all walks of life, some famous and some not. As such, most of the accounts are quite interesting, while others are less so. They are presented chronologically, beginning at 55 BC with an account written by Julius Caesar of his invasion and traversing history all the way to its publication date in 2005 with an account of "England Wins Ashes, the Oval, London." In between there are a hundred or so sketches summarizing 2000 years of English history, from those that were there.
I found most of these sketches to be very interesting, whether it's from the point of view of a Saxon warrior at the Battle of Maldon in 991, or about the Peasants' Revolt in 1381, or a piece by Winston Churchill during WWII, or The Beatles in Performance at the Cavern Club in Liverpool in 1961 by none other than Brian Epstein. Taken all together, these sketches provide a nice overview of English history for somebody who is already at least partially familiar with that history. If this is the first book ever picked up on the subject I don't think it would go very far in educating somebody about it...it's just too little detail about too many events, and each event is only addressed once, often by somebody who has a strong bias one way or the other. But as a companion book to a library of history, this is a fascinating read and makes me want to search out other such books for other countries/cultures.
This book, England, The Autobiography, edited by John Lewis-Stemple, is a collection of first-hand accounts of English history written by English men and women from all walks of life, some famous and some not. As such, most of the accounts are quite interesting, while others are less so. They are presented chronologically, beginning at 55 BC with an account written by Julius Caesar of his invasion and traversing history all the way to its publication date in 2005 with an account of "England Wins Ashes, the Oval, London." In between there are a hundred or so sketches summarizing 2000 years of English history, from those that were there.
I found most of these sketches to be very interesting, whether it's from the point of view of a Saxon warrior at the Battle of Maldon in 991, or about the Peasants' Revolt in 1381, or a piece by Winston Churchill during WWII, or The Beatles in Performance at the Cavern Club in Liverpool in 1961 by none other than Brian Epstein. Taken all together, these sketches provide a nice overview of English history for somebody who is already at least partially familiar with that history. If this is the first book ever picked up on the subject I don't think it would go very far in educating somebody about it...it's just too little detail about too many events, and each event is only addressed once, often by somebody who has a strong bias one way or the other. But as a companion book to a library of history, this is a fascinating read and makes me want to search out other such books for other countries/cultures.
November 17, 2019
I find myself remembering less than a tenth of any history book I read, which is a shame, and means that when it comes to history books, my rating does not reflect how much I learnt, as much as my enjoyment of the book. In this case, I found it refreshing learning history through contemporary accounts, as opposed to absorbing someone's post-event analysis and theory of what's important (though of course it's impossible to eliminate this - the very selection of the pieces that went into the book reflects the author's views).
July 25, 2016
The first half is really intriguing whereas moving closer to the new history made it a bit boring. Nonetheless, it's worth reading.
June 9, 2020
Hmmm 3 or 4 stars? As a cover to cover read more like 2 or 3. But there are lots of gems and it’s the sort of book I can imagine dipping back into from time to time.
March 18, 2021
Really enjoyed the beginning which taught me ‘stuff’ I hadn’t known much about. By the middle i had started skipping pages as the 1st hand accounts were irrelevant and boring. The last 3rd of the book i skipped from the chapter titles, which were interesting and did not read the filler
November 6, 2020
An enjoyable read through 2000 years of eyewitness accounts, all of which add to my knowledge.
December 22, 2025
Great way to make sense of history. Eye witness accounts from those experiencing key events in our island’s history.
July 26, 2011
Книга восихтительная. Особенно - первая ее половина, века этак до 18 - читалось на одном дыхании как захватывающий детектив. Лично мне про 19 и 20 вв. было уже не так интересно читать, если честно. :)
Самое главное - тут же не отложить книгу в сторону, едва открыв первую страницу и прочитав там, что во время двух мировых войн именно Англия оказывалась последним оплотом мира. Господи, а 20 миллионов погибших русских это что, по вашему? Несчастный случай? Снобизм и высокомерие, которыми веет от этого предложения чуть было не заставили меня вычеркнуть его черным маркером с глаз долой. Но, если себя пересилить, от дальнешего чтения получаешь только удовольствие.
Самый цимус в книге - это то, что материалы написаны не рукой одного историка в профессиональном изложении, а написаны разными людьми - очевидцами тех событий. Они видели все своими глазами и описали все честно, хотя и не масштабно, хотя и не представляя еще, какое значение примет этот эпизод для дальнейшей истории. По ходу чтения иногда удивляло, с какой скупостью описывали катастрофы (тот же пожар в Лондоне 1666 года) или жестокость правителей к своим подчиненным и наоборот, и с какой детальностью и величием описывали жестокие битвы. К сожалению, на мой взгляд, книге не хватает чуть-чуть наглядности. Очень бы порадовала таблица, на которой были бы представлены все правившие на Альбионе короли и королевы - мне так и не удалось проследить, когда и какими путями одна династия сменяла другую %) Очень понравились зарисовки о нравах, погоде, научных открытиях, праздниках разных эпох - они погружали в неповторимую атмосферу :)
Самое главное - тут же не отложить книгу в сторону, едва открыв первую страницу и прочитав там, что во время двух мировых войн именно Англия оказывалась последним оплотом мира. Господи, а 20 миллионов погибших русских это что, по вашему? Несчастный случай? Снобизм и высокомерие, которыми веет от этого предложения чуть было не заставили меня вычеркнуть его черным маркером с глаз долой. Но, если себя пересилить, от дальнешего чтения получаешь только удовольствие.
Самый цимус в книге - это то, что материалы написаны не рукой одного историка в профессиональном изложении, а написаны разными людьми - очевидцами тех событий. Они видели все своими глазами и описали все честно, хотя и не масштабно, хотя и не представляя еще, какое значение примет этот эпизод для дальнейшей истории. По ходу чтения иногда удивляло, с какой скупостью описывали катастрофы (тот же пожар в Лондоне 1666 года) или жестокость правителей к своим подчиненным и наоборот, и с какой детальностью и величием описывали жестокие битвы. К сожалению, на мой взгляд, книге не хватает чуть-чуть наглядности. Очень бы порадовала таблица, на которой были бы представлены все правившие на Альбионе короли и королевы - мне так и не удалось проследить, когда и какими путями одна династия сменяла другую %) Очень понравились зарисовки о нравах, погоде, научных открытиях, праздниках разных эпох - они погружали в неповторимую атмосферу :)
July 24, 2012
Lewis-Stemple’s book was fantastic to read. Jam packed with accounts covering every major event in English history. Lewis-Stemple uses a huge variety of sources from political leaders, journalists and ruling monarchs to normal everyday people. He misleads his reader though by billing his work as an ‘autobiography’. There are not as many ‘eye-witnesses’ as he would lead you to believe, more ‘word-of-mouth’ stories.
He picked a great selection of events, however because there are so many, some of the extracts verged on boring but that’s understandable; readers will be interested in different areas. He also tries hard to successfully link each extract together to keep the flow and help novices in history follow the chronological path. He does this successfully in the beginning but I found that as the book got further on, he attempted this less and less. I’m not sure whether it was because these were more recent events and he expected the reader to have known of them or he was just finding it tiresome.
This book is perfect for those who want to read about the experience of England in less than 500 pages but still have it packed with information, a lot of it previously unknown.
He picked a great selection of events, however because there are so many, some of the extracts verged on boring but that’s understandable; readers will be interested in different areas. He also tries hard to successfully link each extract together to keep the flow and help novices in history follow the chronological path. He does this successfully in the beginning but I found that as the book got further on, he attempted this less and less. I’m not sure whether it was because these were more recent events and he expected the reader to have known of them or he was just finding it tiresome.
This book is perfect for those who want to read about the experience of England in less than 500 pages but still have it packed with information, a lot of it previously unknown.
February 11, 2014
With the long, interesting history that England has, this could have easily spanned twenty volumes.
As it stands though, the author did well to choose some well known and some lesser known parts of our country's fascinating past.
It is the first hand accounts that make it though. From peasants to kings and queens. Documented in their own hand, after witnessing key events with their own eyes.
As it stands though, the author did well to choose some well known and some lesser known parts of our country's fascinating past.
It is the first hand accounts that make it though. From peasants to kings and queens. Documented in their own hand, after witnessing key events with their own eyes.
January 18, 2021
I enjoyed this book so much, that I began reading it again almost instantly! A very good collation of primary sources to tell the history of England in an almost fictitious prose. Very informative to the novice and the historian with a variety of sources which range in reliability.
I highly recommend this one!
I highly recommend this one!
September 2, 2017
This is ok, for dipping into, some pieces are maybe one paragraph long, others two or more.
Some of the pieces are written in the first person, but there are others which are not. Ideal for quick reference, Still dipping into this x
Some of the pieces are written in the first person, but there are others which are not. Ideal for quick reference, Still dipping into this x
July 27, 2013
A very good collection of primary sources related to the history of England.
June 10, 2015
Brilliant!
It's great to see the history happening, through the eyes of the real people!
It's great to see the history happening, through the eyes of the real people!
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews