Welcome to the Christmas Book Fair and today historical non-fiction and fiction offering great gift options.

The first author is Mike Biles for his history compendium A Bit About Britain’s History: From a long time ago until quite recently, which I can highly recommend along with his second book A Bit About Britain’s High Days and Holidays.

About the book

Could this short, elegant, volume be the only book on British history you’ll ever need?

A Bit About Britain’s History is for anyone who wants a light introduction to Britain’s amazing story. If you don’t know the basics, or would like a reminder, this book is for you. It is also perfect for those that didn’t enjoy history at school, but who have suddenly realised they’d like to understand it a bit better now. Organised clearly and chronologically, A Bit About Britain’s History covers every period from a long time ago until quite recently. It begins by briefly mentioning that the place was once inhabited by extremely large lizards, and ends up with a post-war 20th century consumer society. Short articles explain the essential aspects of Britain’s past, including how the ancestors of its current inhabitants arrived, how they fought each other, formed nations, fell out over religion, acquired a large empire, became gradually more democratic, helped win a couple of world wars and were left wondering what to do next. At the end of the book are detailed timelines for each period, which provide useful reference and make fascinating reading in their own right.

So – what did the Romans achieve? How did Christianity arrive? Who are the English and why did they fight the French so often? What is Henry VIII’s greatest legacy? When did democracy start and people get the vote? Why on earth did Britain get involved in WW1?

A Bit About Britain’s History might be the only book on British history you’ll ever need; or it might be your stepping stone to more in-depth academic reading.

One of the reviews for the book

One of the best nonfiction books I’ve purchased & read in a while. It seemed appropriate to use my favorite and treasured bookmark I picked up at Cheddar Gorge back in 1999.

This isn’t a comprehensive history book yet richly detailed to keep your interest. The writing isn’t dry as one might think when conjuring up ideas of our school history tomes. The delivery of the historical information is very engaging and the humor kept me turning the pages. The time periods are broken down in eight chapters starting with ancient Britain, early medieval, Tudors, Stuarts running to the modern history.

I loved reading about the Romans and the timeline at the end of the book breaks things down, sort of a basic crash course on which period you may want to explore more. I learned more about Britain’s history and the development of government from this book and found subjects I want to know more about. Why couldn’t history classes in school/college be this delightful?!

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