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In The English and their History, the first full-length account to appear in one volume for many decades, Robert Tombs gives us the history of the English people, and of how the stories they have told about themselves have shaped them, from the prehistoric 'dreamtime' through to the present day. If a nation is a group of people with a sense of kinship, a political identity and representative institutions, then the English have a claim to be the oldest nation in the world. They first came into existence as an idea, before they had a common ruler and before the country they lived in even had a name. They have lasted as a recognizable entity ever since, and their defining national institutions can be traced back to the earliest years of their history. The English have come a long way from

Most of us know a bit about what passes for good manners - holding doors open, sending thank-you notes, no elbows on the table. We certainly know bad manners when we see them. But where has this patchwork of beliefs and behaviours come from? How did manners develop? How do they change? And why do they matter so much to us? In examining our manners, Henry Hitchings delves into the English character and investigates our notions of Englishness. Sorry! presents an amusing, illuminating and quirky audit of English manners. From basic table manners to appropriate sexual conduct, via hospitality, chivalry, faux pas and online etiquette, Hitchings traces the history of our country's customs and courtesies. Putting under the microscope some of our most astute observers of humanity, including Ja

How to be a Victorian - a time traveller's guide to Victorian Britain by the BBC's Ruth Goodman. We know what life was like for Victoria and Albert. But what was it like for a commoner like you or me? How did it feel to cook with coal and wash with tea leaves? Drink beer for breakfast and clean your teeth with cuttlefish? Dress in whalebone and feed opium to the baby? Surviving everyday life came down to the gritty details, the small necessities and tricks of living. Drawing on Ruth's unique first-hand experience, gained from living on a Victorian farm for a year, this book will teach you everything you need to know about 19th century living. If you liked A Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England or If Walls Could Talk, you will love this book. Popular Historian Ruth Goodman is an e

2013 Goodreads Choice Award in the category of Food & Cookbooks.

You fought through "War and Peace," burned through "Fahrenheit 451," and sailed through "Moby-Dick." All right, you nearly drowned in "Moby-Dick," but you made it to shore and you deserve a drink! A fun gift for barflies and a terrific treat for book clubs, "Tequila Mockingbird" is the ultimate cocktail book for the literary obsessed. Featuring 65 delicious drink recipes paired with wry commentary on history's most beloved novels--the book also includes bar bites, drinking games, and whimsical illustrations throughout.Even if you don't have a B.A. in English, tonight you're gonna drink like you do. Drinks include: "The Pitcher of Dorian Grey, The Last of the Mojitos, Love in the Time of Kahlua, Romeo and J

Bestselling author and quiz master Christopher Winn is here to test your general knowledge of Britain with over 1000 quiz questions to perplex and puzzle about our glorious islands. Covering a myriad of subjects including history, cathedrals, sports, records, modern Britain, royalty, people, places, deeds, discoveries and disasters, there is something to test everyone from Britain's brainiest boffins to the quiz beginner. Featuring a range of questions from multiple choice teasers and odd ones out to picture quizzes illustrated with charming line drawings to test your knowledge of the famous faces and facades of Britain. Alongside these sit cryptic and puzzle quizzes plus special features spotlighting different regions so you can see just how well you know your local area. Perfect for

The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there...Imagine you could travel back to the fourteenth century. What would you see, and hear, and smell? Where would you stay? What are you going to eat? And how are you going to test to see if you are going down with the plague? In The Time Traveller's Guide...Ian Mortimer's radical new approach turns our entire understanding of history upside down. History is not just something to be studied; it is also something to be lived, whether that's the life of a peasant or a lord. The result is perhaps the most astonishing history book you are ever likely to read; as revolutionary as it is informative, as entertaining as it is startling.

The past is a foreign country - this is your guide. We think of Queen Elizabeth I's reign (1558-1603) as a golden age. But what was it actually like to live in Elizabethan England? If you could travel to the past and walk the streets of London in the 1590s, where would you stay? What would you eat? What would you wear? Would you really have a sense of it being a glorious age? And if so, how would that glory sit alongside the vagrants, diseases, violence, sexism and famine of the time? In this book Ian Mortimer reveals a country in which life expectancy is in the early thirties, people still starve to death and Catholics are persecuted for their faith. Yet it produces some of the finest writing in the English language, some of the most magnificent architecture, and sees Elizabeth's subj

Jane Walmsley shares George Bernard Shaw's belief that America and Britain are two nations divided by a common language. In this title she looks beyond this shared facade to see the great gulfs that separate us in such areas as tastes in food, dress, home decoration, the way we conduct business, vacation, engage in sex and even die. Her prototype American is an eternal optimist who believes it is only a matter of correct technique and will power to become beautiful, clever, skinny, successful and healthy. A Brit, on the other hand, seems to expect disaster at any moment, so lives with a certain detachment, content to muddle through as best he or she can. Walmsley pokes gentle (and sometimes not so gentle) fun at both cultures and in the process offers a portrait of our cultural differe