A review by ominousjorts
Athelstan: The Making of England by Tom Holland

4.0

This book is a brief but compelling overview of the life and reign of Athelstan and argues convincingly that he was one of the primary forces behind the formation of England as a cohesive state. It is conscious of the paucity of evidence from the time and the lack of known detail about Athelstan, but despite this packs a huge amount of information into its 100 pages, and Holland manages to maintain this factual density without his writing becoming stale or difficult.

I would recommend this book as a highly readable introduction to the period.