The Isles

The Isles is a revolutionary book which at every stage considers the history of the 'British Isles' in the light of parallel events on the Continent. The purpose of this 'integrationist' approach is to challenge the traditional picture of a thousand years of 'eternal England'. Instead, a new picture of the Isles emerges, one of four countries - England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales - constantly buffeted by continental storms and repeatedly transformed by them. Following the construction of the United Kingdom and then charting the rise and fall of the main pillars of 'Britishness', the book ends with the crisis that is confronting Britain now, in the face of the 'ever closer' European Union.Written with the same clarity that distinguished Europe: A History and illuminated by the same piercing originality of thought and approach, The Isles is set to force a reassessment of what it means to be British. It will become an agenda-setting book on ideas of national identity and sovereignty.