A fantastic panoramic review of the history of The Isles (from prehistory through the 20th century), with plenty of commentary about the field of history, historiography, and the like.

Highly recommended for those interested in history, the Isles, or any of the resident countries or peoples (Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England, UK, Great Britain, Celts, Picts, Bretons, etc.) ( )

This book was a strange read in 2020.
Davies spends a fair amount of time lambasting other historians in the book, which both makes you wonder if it could have been about a third shorter, but also why he's right and they're all wrong - although I do have a lot of sympathy for many of his arguments.
He does give a lot of fascinating insights into a huge number of generally under-represented areas, at least in my relatively narrow sight and that's laudable but he also goes digging into some areas where a much more superficial survey would have sufficed and it's hard to know why he's dug so deep - it's almost like he's just found something interesting and gone for it, so maybe some judicial editing wouldn't have gone amiss.
The weird bit is reading his views on modern Europe and our place in it immediately after we've left the EU, all very strange no matter your views on the matter.
Anyway, a book worth reading, but you might find you can skip the odd bit or two. ( )

Guto Rhys:
Largely confused and confusing

Bloody bloody, that. ( )

Superlative doorstopper of a history of the British Isles & Ireland with a focus on the difference between English history & the history of The Isles.
Read Samoa Oct 2003 ( )