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A review by roseybot
The English and their History: The First Thirteen Centuries by Robert Tombs
4.0
I picked this up, in part, because I've never actually learned any English history from the perspective of England. A strange fact given I was born there, and have very British parents. Having a plethora of information about American history (since I was raised in the US, near where the 'shot heard round the world' rang out), I decided to see what I could pick up from an overview of the homeland.
Ultimately, this book was way more patriotic than I like in my history. There was a rosy tint to everything that Tombs described, especially in the later years, and a certain amount of brushing the violent and terrible things that England did in the name of empire (hello rest of the world that we harmed by taking over and pretending moral superiority to). I will say, I usually only read about the bad things that imperialism did, and there's a certain amount of seeing the English rubbing their hands together in glee at the money to be made that comes out, so it was interesting to see a less harsh take on it.
It also made me pretty suspicious of Tombs, which I am glad for cause he seemed to really like Thatcher. Look -- I'll admit it, I don't know much about her -- but even I know she was terrible. So I was left with an odd feeling of 'this guy is kind of a Tory, and therefore we fundamentally disagree on a lot of things".
Still, this was a good primer for information on the place I was born, and I am glad I read it. Tombs was careful about notation and managed to remain fairly impartial for the first half or so of the book. And even beyond that, when he was partial, he backed it up with evidence. I can quibble about the evidence (numbers and stats don't necessarily mean what he thinks they do), but at least he researched to arrive at his conclusions.
Ultimately, this book was way more patriotic than I like in my history. There was a rosy tint to everything that Tombs described, especially in the later years, and a certain amount of brushing the violent and terrible things that England did in the name of empire (hello rest of the world that we harmed by taking over and pretending moral superiority to). I will say, I usually only read about the bad things that imperialism did, and there's a certain amount of seeing the English rubbing their hands together in glee at the money to be made that comes out, so it was interesting to see a less harsh take on it.
It also made me pretty suspicious of Tombs, which I am glad for cause he seemed to really like Thatcher. Look -- I'll admit it, I don't know much about her -- but even I know she was terrible. So I was left with an odd feeling of 'this guy is kind of a Tory, and therefore we fundamentally disagree on a lot of things".
Still, this was a good primer for information on the place I was born, and I am glad I read it. Tombs was careful about notation and managed to remain fairly impartial for the first half or so of the book. And even beyond that, when he was partial, he backed it up with evidence. I can quibble about the evidence (numbers and stats don't necessarily mean what he thinks they do), but at least he researched to arrive at his conclusions.