Foundation (The History of England, #1)

Posted on 23 May 2018 by Peter Ackroyd

Peter Ackroyd, whose work has always been underpinned by a profound interest in and understanding of England s history, now tells the epic story of England itself.In Foundation, the chronicler of London and of its river, the Thames, takes us from the primeval forests of England s prehistory to the death, in 1509, of the first Tudor king, Henry VII He guides us from the building of Stonehenge to the founding of the two great glories of medieval England common law and the cathedrals He shows us glimpses of the country s most distant past a Neolithic stirrup found in a grave, a Roman fort, a Saxon tomb, a medieval manor house and describes in rich prose the successive waves of invaders who made England English, despite being themselves Roman, Viking, Saxon, or Norman French.With his extraordinary skill for evoking time and place and his acute eye for the telling detail, Ackroyd recounts the story of warring kings, of civil strife, and foreign wars But he also gives us a vivid sense of how England s early people lived the homes they built, the clothes the wore, the food they ate, even the jokes they told All are brought vividly to life through the narrative mastery of one of Britain s finest writers. Free Read Foundation (The History of England, #1) [ author ] Peter Ackroyd [ Kindle ePUB or eBook ] – kino-fada.fr B 78% Good NotesVery readable, but speeds too quickly through the middle ages and its antecedent eras in a rush to reach the Tudors.The house of the Plantagenets, from Henry II to Richard III himself was brimming with blood In their lust for power the members of the family turned upon one another King John murdered, or caused to be murdered, his nephew Arthur Richard II dispatched his uncle, Thomas of Gloucester Richard II was in turn killed on the orders of his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke Henry VI was killed in the Tower on the orders of his cousin, Edward IV Edward IV murdered his brother, Clarence, just as his own tw The house of the Plantagenets, from Henry II to Richard III himself was brimming with blood In their lust for power the members of the family turned upon one another King John murdered, or caused to be murdered, his nephew Arthur Richard II dispatched his uncle, Thomas of Gloucester Richard II was in turn killed on the orders of his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke Henry VI was killed in the Tower on the orders of his cousin, Edward IV Edward IV murdered his brother, Clarence, just as his own two sons were murdered by their uncle It is hard to imagine a familysteeped in slaughter and revenge, of which the Wars of the Roses were only one effusion It might be thought that some curs...This is an incredible history book about England, starting with the earliest inhabitants thousands of years ago, moving briskly through the Roman invasion and the years leading up to William the Conqueror, and then wrapping up with the tenth through the fifteenth centuries Most of the drama focuses on the kings and their political exploits, but the author does check in on the peasants every now and again.This book isthan 400 pages and is dense with facts and stories Ackroyd writes well a This is an incredible history book about England, starting with the earliest inhabitants thousands of years ago, moving briskly through the Roman invasion and the years leading up to William the Conqueror, and then wrapping up with the tenth through the fifteenth centuries Most of the drama focuses on the kings and their political exploits, but the author does check in on the peasants every now and again.This book isthan 400 pages and is dense with facts and stories Ackroyd writes well and includes some dry humor, but I ll be honest that I started this book three different times before I finally...I m 100 pages in and mesmerized This answers so many questions I ve had for decades about who the English actually were, what tribes they were composed of, and how both the royalty and nobility came to be, and who they were Amazing I put those words in quotes because I think they re imaginary, foul concepts Obviously, I recognize that such classes were created and had a monumental impact, and I m fascinated by them, but I sure don t recognize them as noble, much less royal Obviously, I m 100 pages in and mesmerized This answers so many questions I ve had for decades about who the English actually were, what tribes they were composed of, and how both the royalty and nobility came to be, and who they were Amazing I put those words in quotes because I think they re imaginary, foul concepts Obviously, I recognize that such classes were created and had a monumental impact, and I m fascinated by them, but I sure don t recognize them as noble, much less royal Obviously, this is a provisional review rating I hope to return to to fill inas I progress I actually like how these sites allow a person to communicate not just how they felt about the book after th...Ackroyd appears to have written this for people who don t read much history His pop journalistic style Death was always at hand and selected themes all kings are greedy and brutal, the ancient past underlies modern England combine with what seems to be superficial secondary research make it unsatisfying history, though many people enjoy his style In typical Ackroyd style, he interleaves his generalities with nuggets of detail One I particularly liked, and so did he, obviously, because Ackroyd appears to have written this for people who don t read much history His pop journalistic style Death was always at hand and selected themes all kings are greedy and brutal, the ancient past underlies modern England combine with what seems to be superficial secondary research make it unsatisfying history, though many people enjoy his style In typical Ackroyd style, he interleaves his generalities with nuggets of detail One I particularly liked, and so did he, ...FOUNDATION The History of England From Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors 2012 Peter Ackroyd This is obviously volume one in a projected series of books on the complete history of England While reading this, I kept thinking that it would have been a wonderful text to have been assigned for my course in English History There is not a dry page in the book Ackroyd, a well respected and prolific writer about various aspects of British history along with a goodly list of novels an FOUNDATION The History of England From Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors 2012 Peter Ackroyd This is obviously volume one in a projected series of books on the complete history of England While reading this, I kept thinking that it would have been a wonderful text to have been assigned for my course in English History There...This is a very ambitious book, covering the period from prehistory up to the death of Henry VII, and really it would be a good ideas to have some sort of computer programme such as Visio to hand while reading it, because the relationships between the main players becomes confusing But this is not really a fault I was prompted to read this book after reading the author s version of the Canterbury Tales, and I m pleased I did.It would be difficult to find ainformative and entertaining volu This is a very ambitious book, covering the period from prehistory up to the death of Henry VII, and really it would be a good ideas to have some sort of computer programme such as Visio to hand while reading it, because the relationships between the main players becomes confusing But this is not really a fault I was prompted to read this book after reading the author s version of the Canterbury Tales, and I m pleased I did.It would be difficult to find ainformative and entertaining volume You are drawn into the barbarity of much of English history and entertained by thewhimsical descriptions of life, particularly in the middle ages I am a native of the English county of Wiltshire which contains both the site of Stonehenge and the Avebury Ring Every hilltop is occupied by a prehistoric fort and the Wansdyke winds across some miles of the countryside, possibly constructe...I picked this up on a whim without hearing anything about it, unfamiliar with Ackroyd s other books but with a general enjoyment of British history currently stronger now that I ve forsaken my homeland for one of the colonies My knowledge of pre Tudor history is patchy at best though Problem solved We are led from the very early days of the native peoples right through a series of conquests and colonisation, wars, famous battles and rivalries, mythical figures and folklore, up until the en I picked this up on a whim without hearing anything about it, unfamiliar with Ackroyd s other books but with a general enjoyment of British history currently stronger now that I ve forsaken my homeland for one of the colonies My knowledge of pre Tudor history is patchy at best though Problem solved We are led from the very early days of the native peoples right through a series of conquests and colonisation, wars, famous battles and rivalries, mythical figures and folklore, up until the end of Henry VII Though he claims it s a history of England and the people, ithonestly a history of the Kings of England during this period, each chapter taking them one at a time I have to say, that suits me fine but it seems to have annoyed some We do start to get a sense of England as it develops, slowly, usually through inconsequential turns of events and chance occurrences but it s far from th...The author writes on page 424 of my copy The coffin was later used as a horse trough, and the bones of Richard III scattered Well that turned out to be a bit of bad luck in terms of writing the subjective as historical fact Like all these historical overviews one always learns something new I had never heard of the Gough Map for example But that hardly makes up for a poorish book I am disappointed as this should have been a very useful historical overview of England from the dawns of time The author writes on page 424 of my copy The coffin was later used as a horse trough, and the bones of Richard III scattered Well that turned out to be a bit of bad luck in terms of writing the subjective as historical fact Like all these historical overviews one always learns something new I had never heard of the Gough Map for example But that hardly makes up for a poorish book I am disappointed as this should have been a very useful historical overview of England from the dawns of ti...For someone like myself, who knows patches of English history but has never had an opportunity to grasp the wider picture, Foundation is the perfect remedy It s a remarkable achievement of historical writing, somehow cramming in thousands of years of history without seeming overwhelming creating a bold, enjoyable narrative from a complex and multi faceted history Ackryod carefully balances out his own enthusiasm and narrative flair with a solid respect for the history he s describing, and is For someone like myself, who knows patches of English history but has never had an opportunity to grasp the wider picture, Foundation is the perfect remedy It s a remarkable achievement of historical writing, somehow cramming in thousands of years of history without seeming ov...

English
23 May 2018

Peter Ackroyd