The Isles A History

"[Davies] invests The Isles...with energy and enthusiasm."--The New York Times "For all its length, it miraculously retains the pace and exhilaration of an iconoclastic essay."--The Economist "The book succeeds, boisterous in its sheer variety."--The Wall Street Journal "An audacious project, touching and reckless, enormously stimulating and hugely necessary."--Washington Post Book World "Brilliant....Davies's fast-paced narrative and reassessments are executed with such brio that putting the book down...is almost impossible." --The Boston Sunday Globe "Any reader eager to challenge the enduring prejudices and bigotry that have dominated the history of the Isles for so long will find his myth-busting views both engaging and enlightening."--The Christian Science Monitor "Excellently organized and...well written."--The Boston Book Review "Davies has written a wondrous, landmark chronicle of the British Isles....Bursting with fresh insights on nearly every page, this magisterial narrative, scholarly yet down-to-earth and engrossing, reveals Davies at his iconoclastic best."--Publishers Weekly (boxed review) "A key book for its time....Moved by corrective passion and insatiable curiosity....Seizes the conventional wisdom of the moment, and destroys most of its foundations."--London Review of Books