Frank Welsh wisely uses the introduction of this 'history of the
United Kingdom', to let the reader know that he has no intention of
taking on a comprehensive history of the British Isles. The
ambiguity and complexity of such a task leaves it beyond the remit
of most historians, who, he notes, have 'prudently avoided' it. The
complicated difficulties of nationhood among the English, Irish,
Scottish and Welsh are all referred to early on as the author sets
his stall out and clarifies what he plans to do with this detailed
yet accessible publication on the development of the four nations
which would, for a brief period anyway, become one United Kingdom
under the 1800 Act of Union. Taking into account recent
developments in genetic research which enable us to revisit some
'hoary racial myths', he approaches the topic with gleeful
enthusiasm, and is more than happy to acknowledge his own
weaknesses. Which is sometimes just as well, for at one point the
author warns of how difficult it is to divide history into periods,
yet then chooses to do so in order to attach some order to the
often bewildering, sometimes overpowering amount of information he
harnesses within these pages. At another, he refers to the
prejudices of previous writers on the subject - both Anglocentric
and Anglophobic - before going on to reveal some prejudices of his
own. Ultimately what Welsh offers is a look at the myriad attempts
that have been made over the past two thousand years to 'construct
an internal English empire' - and the resistance met by such
attempts. Even taking on this subject matter in less than 500 pages
is an ambitious endeavour, and for the most part Welsh succeeds,
while acknowledging that he is guilty of his own omissions and
noting how history is 'rarely tidy'. (Kirkus UK)
By comparison with the United States, the history of the United Kingdom as an undivided entity has been quite short. This book describes the history of each constituent part, their interaction, and the effect of external events. As soon as British history is seen as an integral part of world (especially European) history, the perspective alters drastically.
Until 1803 France was optimistically assumed to be part of the realm. Less than a century elapsed between 1829, when the grant of a very restricted franchise to Catholics made the inclusion of Ireland more than a political fiction, to 1922, when the Irish Free State emerged. Scotland, with England the main constituent of the UK since 1707, has retained its own legal system, administration and established church (the Queen changes her religion each time she passes Berwick). Wales retains a distinctive culture and language, albeit one on an expensive life-support machine.
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