Ever England

"The remnants of Romano-British culture eventually found refuge in the very areas that had previously resisted imperial influence: the far west and north of the island, and across the sea in Hibernia, where an upper-class Roman Briton, Patricius (St. Patrick), began to convert the inhabitants to Christianity in about 450. The Saxons were powerful enough to eradicate Roman law and culture, including Christianity, and to impose new beliefs, customs and above all a new language—proof that the change had been a cultural cataclysm."

(page 18)

Book review, Title The English And Their History, Author Tombs Robert, Rating 4.0,

The English And Their History Tombs Robert Book review

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My initial interest in this book was to read a good summary of the history of the English Civil War, from James I to William and Mary. I found Tombs' account to be brisk, clear and reasonably complete, which propelled me to continue reading. I particularly enjoyed his judicious mix of historiographical review while attempting to pick that elusive clean line in historical narrative. The book proved to be an reasonably short yet comprehensive account of England's history.

By adding a light but overt thread of historiography, the author keeps the reader alert to the influences on his interpretation without destroying the thread of the story.

The author respects the Butterfield, ‘anti-Whig’ approach to history, attempting to interpret historical events in light of their own times and thereby minimizing an overly modern bias. In particular, the approach ideally avoids that cherry-picking that is consciously or unconsciously introduced by the preconceptions of an ideological outlook, and thereby exaggerates the influence of some events while leaving out critical factors. Yet taken too far this approach can reduce history to an overwhelmingly chaotic jumble of fact, so simplifications must still be made to tell a coherent story; even though this ideal cannot be fully attained, the history is improved by the awareness, by the very striving.