The Isles: A History [Paperback]

Norman Davies, author of the critically acclaimed `Europe: A History', has put together an interesting history of the British Isles, trying to portray them as a group that, while lacking unity, should be at least addressed as a unified group, always influencing and co-dependent upon each other.

Davies is rather modest in his self-description of the book:

`This book necessarily presents a very personal view of history. Indeed, by some academic standards, it may well be judged thoroughly unsound. As I wrote in relation to a previous work, it presents the past 'seen through one pair of eyes, filtered by one brain, and recorded by one pen'. It has been assembled by an author who, though being a British citizen and a professional historian, has no special expertise in the British historical field.'

Davies self-criticism is really far too strongly expressed here, for he does an admirably thorough job at documentation, reporting, and theorising. Taking a cue from other historians who worry about the increasing lack of historical knowledge of the general public coupled with the increasing specialisation which causes people to lose proper perspective, Davies has put together a comprehensive history of the British Isles which strives to escape at least some of the problems of previous histories.

For instance, it has only been within the last generation that 'English History' has come to be seen as an inaccurate term for discussion of the affairs of all the Isles, or even for the history of the largest island, Great Britain. To this day, anomalies exist that confuse the status of the islands (all cars in the United Kingdom, for instance, carry the plate coding GB, even those cars in Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom that is not part of Great Britain, etc.). Davies takes great care to distinguish English from Scot from Pict from Irish from British, which has a meaning close to the commonly-used term for only the most ancient and the most modern British events.

This does, I must confess, occasionally get in the way of the narrative history. While explaining his reasoning up front in the introduction or preface makes sense, the constant referring to this state of affairs interrupts the flow of the narrative a bit more than it perhaps should.

Davies takes a long-term approach, starting with prehistorical evidence for inhabitation of the areas which are now the British Isles (which used to be connected to the mainland), getting into real substance with the arrival of the Celts in the British Isles (the longest-tenured remaining people in the Isles, pushed to the periphery but still influential in many ways), which for a period of six to seven centuries may have the been the longest period of unity and stability the Isles have ever, or will ever, know. However, even these groups were not unified in a political sense, and tribal warfare was common on all the main islands among competing groups.

Davies proceeds to explore the history of the British Isles under the Romans, during the Germanic invasion/migrations, during the Norse/Viking invasions/raids, during the Norman conquest, and then to the period of English hegemony. The period of English hegemony consists of three primary period: the 'Three Kingdoms' period (England, Ireland, and Scotland); the Union period (which various includes Ireland in union with a unified England and Scotland), and the post-Imperial time, which has seen an increasing move toward devolution, beginning with Irish independence and continuing toward separate parliaments for the 'nations'.

`In all but name, therefore, the policy of devolution had been accepted by the Thatcher government in the cultural and educational sphere many years before it was adopted in the constitutional sphere by 'New Labour'. The cumulative effects were bound to be far-reaching. The Scots and the Welsh, and to some extent the Northern Irish, were given a strong injection not only of self-esteem but also of separation.'

Davies tackles difficult questions and problems that are not typical of standard histories, especially where speculation into the possible future of the British Isles is concerned. As the United Kingdom has never been a nation-state in the same sense as continental nations, what does this mean for the future of the Union? Will the British Isles once again become a collection of peoples, owing more allegiance to the broader, historically-newly forming European Union than toward each other politically, while still maintaining trade and social ties that are incredibly strong? Only time will tell.

A biased history, to be sure, but a very unique insight, and well worth reading for a broader perspective on the history of the peoples of the British Isles than most 'British history' or 'English history' books will give.

For example, dynastic politics in the late medieval period are covered in detail, with all the crownings, marriages, enfoeffments, rebellions and inheritances carefully recorded. But the Black Death, which utterly transformed the lives and economic relationships of everyone alive at the time and for centuries to come, is only briefly described and not discussed at all. The Irish Famine of the 1840's is referred to a couple of times, but not even described let alone discussed. The Industrial Revolution, surely the most important event since the invention of agriculture 10,000 years ago - and a uniquely British event at its beginning - is given approximately the same amount of space as a detailed account of the habits of the British aristocracy!

This approach to history may have been appropriate in an age when literacy was the preserve of a privilaged minority who were mainly interested in the doings of thier noble ancestors. But it 's woefully inadequate for the 21st century. It's an upstairs-downstairs version of history. It regards all the really important information about the past as 'social history', an inferior branch of the subject, to be treated with disdain by gentlemen historians. Their task is to make an intricate study of which individuals happened to be top dog at any particular time.

As an attempt to redress the anglocentrism of other historians the book must be counted a success, but only a partial one. For example, the author seems to lose interest in the Republic of Ireland as soon as it left the UK. The relative economic decline of the UK during the past half century is discussed in detail over several pages, while the Irish economic boom of the last decade is refered to a couple of times, but not described or discussed. The remarkable historical fact that the Irish per capita income is now higher than the British is apparently a matter of indifference to the author.

Having said all that, it is a remarkably well written book, and definitely a good read. It's no mean feat to sum up such an enormous subject in one volume without the writing either bcoming vague or beginning to look like a series of lists, and Norman Davies avoids both these pitfalls. He can write a good story, and here he has written one which flows on over an enormous timescale without ever losing its immediacy or interest. Though I found myself constantly irritated by his choice of subject matter, I enjoyed reading the book very much, and feel I have had a new and distinctive view of the history of these islands which I could not have got elsewhere.