A riveting account of the most consequential year in English history, marked by bloody conflict with invaders on all sides.1066 is the most famous date in history, and with good reason, since no battle in medieval history had such a devastating effect on its losers as the Battle of Hastings, which altered the entire course of English history.The French-speaking Normans were the pre-eminent warriors of the 11th century and based their entire society around c...

A witty and concise look at the beginnings of English history, when the nation consolidated after clashes between the Saxons and invading Vikings.In 871, three of England's four kingdoms were overrun by Vikings, the ruthless, all-conquering Scandinavian raiders who terrorized early medieval Europe. With the Norsemen murdering one king with arrows and torturing another to death by ripping out his lungs, the prospects that faced the kingdom of Wessex were bleak. Wors...

A riveting account of the most consequential year in English history, marked by bloody conflict with invaders on all sides1066 is the most famous date in history, and with good reason, since no battle in medieval history had such a devastating effect on its losers as the Battle of Hastings, which altered the entire course of English history.The French-speaking Normans were the pre-eminent warriors of the eleventh century and based their entire society aroun...

From William Shakespeare's series of history dramas to Sir Walter Scott and George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, not to mention the smash-hit TV show Game of Thrones, the British civil war of 1455 to 1485 has inspired writers more than any other.Ed West's My Kingdom for a Horse illuminates the bloody war fought for thirty long years between the descendants of King Edward III in a battle for the throne. Named after the emblems used by the two leadi...

A witty and concise look at the beginnings of English history, when the nation consolidated after clashes between the Saxons and invading VikingsIn 871, three of England’s four kingdoms were overrun by Vikings, the ruthless, all-conquering Scandinavian raiders who terrorized early medieval Europe. With the Norsemen murdering one king with arrows and torturing another to death by ripping out his lungs, the prospects that faced the kingdom of Wessex were bleak. Worse still, the Saxon...

A revealing glimpse into the tumultuous history of England’s medieval period, full of knights in shining armor and terrible peasant suffering.Covering the violent and disease-ridden period between 1272 to 1399, England in the Age of Chivalry. . . And Awful Diseases covers the events, personages and ideas most commonly known as "medieval". This includes Geoffrey Chaucer, the Peasants revolt, the Scottish wars of independence, the Great Famine of 1315, the Black Death...

2002 - ICM Research polling for the BBC: 47 per cent of white Britons believed immigration had damaged British society (a belief shared by 22 per cent of black and Asian Britons) and 28 per cent believed it had benefited it. 2012 - YouGov polling for the Sunday Times: 11 per cent of people believe that immigration in the past decade has been 'a good thing for Britain' - 67 per cent think it has had a negative effect. Not only does a clear majority of the British public now seem to want imm...

The new ruling elite in the west – the ultra-wealthy tech magnates, financial wizards and corporate bosses that wield enormous power over us – embrace extremely progressive political ideas. What explains this apparent paradox?In this scintillating critique of these new radical plutocrats, conservative commentator Ed West argues that the 'luxury beliefs' of the new Brahmin caste are perfectly consistent with their accumulation of ever greater wealth. Ultra-liberalism, with its inher...

From William Shakespeare’s series of history dramas, to Sir Walter Scott, and George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire*—*not to mention the smash-hit TV show Game of Thrones—the British civil war of 1455 to 1485 has inspired writers for centuries.Ed West’s My Kingdom for a Horse illuminates the bloody war fought for thirty long years between the descendants of King Edward III in a battle for the throne. Named after the emblems used by the two leading families,...

'An entertaining, wide-ranging defence and explanation of the conservative way of seeing the world . . . suffused with generosity and wit' Catholic HeraldBrought up by eccentric intellectuals, Ed West experienced what he believed was a fairly normal childhood of political pamphlets as bedtime reading, family holidays to East Germany and a father who was one political step away from advocating the return of serfdom. In his mid-twenties, West found himself e...

A revealing glimpse into the tumultuous history of England’s medieval period, full of knights in shining armor and terrible peasant sufferingCovering the violent and disease-ridden period between 1272 to 1399, England in the Age of Chivalry … and Awful Diseases covers the events, personages, and ideas most commonly known as “medieval.” This includes Geoffrey Chaucer, the Peasants revolt, the Scottish wars of independence, the Great Famine of 1315, the Blac...

1215 is one of the most famous dates in English history, and with good reason, since it marks the signing of the Magna Carta by King John and the English barons, which altered the entire course of English and world history.John Lackland was born to King Henry II and Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitane in December, 1166; he was the youngest of five sons. However, he unexpectedly became the favored heir to his father after a failed rebellion by his older brothers in 1173. He became king in ...