The three volumes of "A History of the Peoples of the British Isles" weave together the histories of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and their peoples. The authors trace the course of social, economic, cultural and political history from prehistoric times to the present, analysing the relationships, differences and similarities of the four areas. Presenting material on themes such as women's history, the family, religion, intellectual history, society, politics and the arts, these volumes provide a resource for students of the political and cultural heritage of the British Isles. Volume I covers British history from prehistoric times to 1688. Its main themes include: the development of prehistoric, Roman and Anglo-Saxon Britain; discussions of family and class structures; medieval British history; the Stuart and Tudor leaderships; and the arts and intellectual developments from 1485 to 1688.

English cathedrals, including Canterbury, Durham, Winchester and York, are the greatest collective work of art and architecture in Britain, reflecting over a thousand years of history. "English Cathedrals" is an account of their foundation, construction and decoration - their architectural history - but also of who used them and what happened in them - their human history. Cathedrals were centres of learning, music and wealth. Continuity of worship over hundreds of years was broken by the two great crises of the sixteenth-century Reformation and the seventeenth-century Civil War. There were also dramatic episodes, such as the loss of St Paul's in the Great Fire of 1666, subsequently to be rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren. All have changed over the centuries. These great buildings remain striking monuments in the landscape with a unique power to evoke the past.