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A review by cremullins
A Short History of England by Simon Jenkins
2.0
A Tory History of England
A strangely conservative history of England, one infatuated with Englishness and seemingly unembarrassed by, or at least neutral on, the subject of the British Empire. At the outset, Jenkins says he will restrict his scope to "England" as it is often conflated with Britain as a whole, but throughout the book conflates Englishness with Britishness.
It is also riddled with glaring inaccuracies, some of which I had to highlight. One especially egregious howler states that the word "cabal" - derived from a mediaeval antisemitic term referring to the Jewish mystical tradition of Kabbalah - actually derives from "Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley and Lauderdale". Worse: The version I read is a second edition, which means Jenkins and his editors had seven years to correct his mistakes, and they didn't.
This makes for a decent enough introduction to English history, I suppose, narrating first the history of the monarchy and then the history of Parliament. However, this leaning heavily on the history of England as a state, rather than the English as a people, leaves the book feeling quite austere and remote.
The narrative style is quite breezy and pleasant, but I come away from it feeling like I am being lectured by an elder patriotic Englishman whom I do not have the heart to correct on his misconceptions of this nation's apparent triumphs.
I would recommend supplementing this book with more detailed (and better-researched) histories of specific time periods in British history, particularly those with a more critical view of the English state.
For me, this was a frustrating read.
A strangely conservative history of England, one infatuated with Englishness and seemingly unembarrassed by, or at least neutral on, the subject of the British Empire. At the outset, Jenkins says he will restrict his scope to "England" as it is often conflated with Britain as a whole, but throughout the book conflates Englishness with Britishness.
It is also riddled with glaring inaccuracies, some of which I had to highlight. One especially egregious howler states that the word "cabal" - derived from a mediaeval antisemitic term referring to the Jewish mystical tradition of Kabbalah - actually derives from "Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley and Lauderdale". Worse: The version I read is a second edition, which means Jenkins and his editors had seven years to correct his mistakes, and they didn't.
This makes for a decent enough introduction to English history, I suppose, narrating first the history of the monarchy and then the history of Parliament. However, this leaning heavily on the history of England as a state, rather than the English as a people, leaves the book feeling quite austere and remote.
The narrative style is quite breezy and pleasant, but I come away from it feeling like I am being lectured by an elder patriotic Englishman whom I do not have the heart to correct on his misconceptions of this nation's apparent triumphs.
I would recommend supplementing this book with more detailed (and better-researched) histories of specific time periods in British history, particularly those with a more critical view of the English state.
For me, this was a frustrating read.