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£12.99
Published
16 June 2021
Paperback
9781910400999
Ebook
Press Release
Coming soon.
 

‘The Shortest History of England is a book you could read in a couple of sittings and think about, on and off, for the rest of your life.’ JONATHAN LAW, Slightly Foxed

James Hawes’s The Shortest History of Germany was the bestselling history book of 2018. In 240 invigorating pages, it told the story of a nation, tracing the roots of today’s challenges back to the first encounters with Rome.

In The Shortest History of England, Hawes turns his gaze to his homeland. As he journeys from Caesar to Brexit via Conquest, Empire and World War, he discovers an England very different from the standard vision. Our stable island fortress, stubbornly independent, the begetter of parliaments and globe-spanning empires, is riven by an ancient fault-line that predates even the Romans; its fate has ever been bound up with that of its neighbours, whether we like it or not; and – for the past 1,000 years – it has harboured a class system like nowhere else on Earth.

There has never been a better time to understand why England is the way it is – and there is no better guide.

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Old Street Publishing The Shortest History of England

‘The Shortest History of England is a book you could read in a couple of sittings and think about, on and off, for the rest of your life.’ JONATHAN LAW, Slightly Foxed

James Hawes’s The Shortest History of Germany was the bestselling history book of 2018. In 240 invigorating pages, it told the story of a nation, tracing the roots of today’s challenges back to the first encounters with Rome.

In The Shortest History of England, Hawes turns his gaze to his homeland. As he journeys from Caesar to Brexit via Conquest, Empire and World War, he discovers an England very different from the standard vision. Our stable island fortress, stubbornly independent, the begetter of parliaments and globe-spanning empires, is riven by an ancient fault-line that predates even the Romans; its fate has ever been bound up with that of its neighbours, whether we like it or not; and – for the past 1,000 years – it has harboured a class system like nowhere else on Earth.

There has never been a better time to understand why England is the way it is – and there is no better guide.

—

—

12.99
 
 

'No one writes history as well as James Hawes or uses the past to make sense of the present so skillfully. This is an urgent and electrifying work that takes you to the heart of England's sickness. Do yourself a favour and read it.'
—Nick Cohen

 
 
  • ‘Comprehensive and vivid… I don’t know of a better short history of this great country.'
    —Philip Pullman
  • 'History books fall into two main camps: those that bring out the deep strangeness and difference of the past, and those that emphasize the continuities. The best, like James Hawes's The Shortest History of England, do both.'
    —Jonathan Law, Slightly Foxed
  • ‘Excellent… Hawes knows what he’s on about and his conclusions are measured, but he favours clear, concise prose over dense academese. He has a sense of humour, and a sharp eye for similarities between then and now.’
    —Spectator
  • 'An engaging, informative sprint through the story of our little island'
    —Independent
  • 'Thorough and absorbing… steps back from the current madness with admirable clarity' —New European
  • 'At last a chance to get to grips with the entire history of England, and all in a few hours'
    —Mail on Sunday
  • 'A vivid, super-charged tour through British history, showing that many of the tensions of today have been present throughout'
    —John Kampfner
  • 'I've read 100s of books on English history but this is the first one that clearly explains the North/South divide. Everyone who lives here should read it.' —Christopher Fowler, author of the Bryant & May mysteries
  • 'Such a thought-provoking read… The maps and charts are so useful'
    —Dan Jackson, author of The Northumbrians
 
 
James Hawes

James Hawes's The Shortest History of Germany was the bestselling history title of 2018. He is also the author of Brilliant Isles: Our Untold History Revealed through Art. He has published six novels with Jonathan Cape, including Speak for England (2005), which predicted Brexit. He is currently writing a history of Ireland.