Great Britain: Identities, Institutions, and the Idea of Britishness

In this lively and searching book, Keith Robbins explores the relationships of the constituent parts of the island of Great Britain, to understand how England, Wales and Scotland have interacted and influenced each other, and how the modern British polity and its distinctive institutions have emerged amongst them. Ireland (to be the subject of a separate volume in the series) is not treated directly here, but is seldom out of mind; and the experience of the Irish in Britain is very much part of the story. The result - entertaining as well as informative, and with many attractive illustrations - is a crisp single-volume history of Britain since early times (though it concentrates particularly on the early modern and modern periods, and its emphasis, in keeping with the series remit, is on the contribution of the past to the making of the present). But the book has other, more distinctive aims.