Title: Polemic, yes; History, maybe.
Review: Norman Davies' last book, on the history of Europe, was perhaps the best book of its kind. It is that admiration and enjoyment from reading that last book which led me to pick up this one, on the history associated with the British Isles. However, I would characterize this book as being a much better assertion of a very persuasively argued point of view about history of the British Isles than a telling of history. This was not the flaw of his last opus magnum. There are many typos in the first edition which i picked up and read with great excitement; but viewed in light of how I have characterized the book, even the typos are amusingly ideosyncratic. Ultimately, this is an ideosyncratic book, one that should be read after considerable prior exposure to the history of Britain and the British sensibility. Then, one can enjoy Norman Davies' book for what it is: a construction of how history ought to be approached as a living argument, lively argued.
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