Machine generated contents note: Saxon Dawn 410-600 -- The Birth of England 600-800 -- The Danes 800-1066 -- William the Conqueror 1066-1087 -- The Conqueror's Children 1087-1154 -- Henry and Becket 1154-1189 -- Magna Carta 1189-1216 -- Henry III and Simon de Montfort 1216-1272 -- Hammering the Celts 1272-1330 -- The Hundred Years War 1330-1377 -- The Peasants' Revolt to the Loss of France 1377-1453 -- The Wars of the Roses 1453-1483 -- Bosworth and Henry Tudor 1483-1509 -- Henry VIII 1509-1547 -- Reformation, Counter Reformation 1547-1558 -- Good Queen Bess 1558-1603 -- Early Stuarts 1603-1642 -- Civil War 1642-1660 -- Restoration 1660-1688 -- Glorious Revolution 1688-1714 -- Walpole and Pitt the Elder 1714-1774 -- From Boston to Waterloo 1774-1815 -- The Road to Reform 1815-1832 -- Victorian Dawn 1832-1868 -- Gladstone and Disraeli 1868-1901 -- The Edwardians 1901-1914 -- The First World War 1914-1918 -- The Locust Years 1918-1939 -- The Second World War 1939-1945. Contents note continued: The Welfare State 1945-1979 -- Thatcherism 1979-1990 -- Thatcher's Children 1990-2011.

This is a definitive concise account of our remarkable past. From the Battle of Catterick (AD 598) to the premiership of Tony Blair, one of Britain's most respected journalists, Simon Jenkins, weaves together a strong narrative with all the most important and interesting dates in a book that characteristically is as stylish as it is authoritative. There have been long synoptic histories of England but until now there has been no standard short work covering all significant events, themes and individuals. Published with the support of the National Trust, and beautifully illustrated, this magisterial history will be the standard work for years to come.