This famous survey has been updated to incorporate the new perspectives of the last twelve years. The study opens with one Revolution, the Reformation, and closes with another - the Civil War of the mid-17th century and the abolition of the monarchy. Alan Smith explores the dramatic changes during this period when the country was forged into a 'nation state." Its centrepiece however, remains the extraordinary achievements of the Elizabethan and Jacobean age, and these glories are given full treatment in this masterly account.

A detailed survey which examines the major developments in English society during this period of social crises, population decline, agarian unrest, the introduction to enclosures - and political tensions particularly over succession.

A detailed survey which examines the major developments in English society during this period of social crises, population decline, agarian unrest, the introduction to enclosures - and political tensions particularly over succession.

The second volume, on early and mid-Georgian Britain, shows how the country used its expanding wealth, its new-found social cohesion at home and its international influence abroad to become not only a European but an imperial power. As with the first volume, every aspect of the period is covered.

Covers both the expansion and the decline of the British Empire and the reasons behind this sudden eclipse in power.