Britain and Europe: A Short History

Amid the ongoing Brexit crisis, both sides are appealing to Britains past relationship with Europe to justify their positions. But much specious history is presented to argue for either the closeness or distance of our political, cultural and economic links with the Continent. We urgently need a dispassionate account of how Britains history truly fits into a European context. How similar has Britain been to other European countries, and in what respects? Do Brits feel European, and have they taken an interest in events on the Continent, or has their distance from Europe led to insularity and xenophobia? Finally, how involved in European affairs has Britain been over the last several hundred years? Jeremy Blacks fresh and trenchant analysis sets an increasingly politicised British history in its real European context. See more