LitPick Review
Patrick Dillon's new book, The Story of Britain From the Norman Conquest to the European Union , appears to be an alarmingly accurate account of British history. Dillon combines the often confusing stories of kings, nobles, their enemies and the commoners, and their many different battles for power and control. We also see how everyday life affected the history we learn today. In this book, Dillon separates the British past into periods of time and royal families. The Middle Ages The Tudors The Stuarts The Georgians The Victorians The Twentieth Century Sail through time with Dillon as he reintroduces The Black Prince, Henry the VIII, William Shakespeare, Guy Fawkes, James Cook, George the III, William Gladstone,Winston Churchill, and Nye Bevan. If you are not familiar with great people such as these, or if you simply enjoy reading about history, READ THIS BOOK!!
Opinion:
I personally have always found history to be very interesting, especially British history. It is so often intertwined and wrapped back around itself and its people and culture. However, this can make history more difficult to understand. It doesn't help that so many books out there skip around in a way that is almost impossible to grasp. Patrick Dillon does a wonderful job of telling history in an original and straight-forward way. He has a fascinating way of really telling how it was for the common populace, as well as the Nobles. All the while, flowing in and out of important events, in an easy-to-remember way. While I enjoyed this book, I found that it has a very slow start. For many book lovers that I know, this means practically instant death for a book. However, Dillon's story came back strong about one quarter of the way into it. The illustrations, by P.J. Lynch, really helped to light up my imagination with interesting maps and pictures from history. I was able to better appreciate these places and stories with their personal happenings by being able to refer to the illustrations. The History of Britain , by Patrick Dillon, is an informative book to add to your library! It's a good read for all ages. If you're a history fan, like me, this is a great book to add to your collection.
