The Isles:

"If ever a history book were a tract for the times, it is "The Isles: a History". "The Isles" is a masterwork, particulary memorable for its concluding survey of centrifugal forces in a late twentieth-century Britain where there are more Muslims tha Methodists. Precisely three years ago there appeared Davies's "Europe: a History". "The Isles" forms a fine companion: encyclopaedic, provocatively argued and enhanced by generous quotations from works of literature in all the Isles tongues. (Roy Porter, The Times)