Britain and Europe: A Short History Hardcover

Amid the ongoing Brexit crisis, both sides are appealing to Britain’s past relationship with Europe to justify their positions. But much specious history is presented to argue for either the closeness or distance of our political, cultural, and economic links with ‘the Continent’.

A Need for Clarity

We urgently need a dispassionate account of how Britain’s history truly fits into a European context. Key questions include:

• How similar has Britain been to other European countries, and in what respects?
• Do Brits feel European, and have they taken an interest in events on the Continent?
• Or has their distance from Europe led to insularity and xenophobia?

Britain’s Role in European Affairs

Finally, how involved in European affairs has Britain been over the last several hundred years?

Jeremy Black’s fresh and trenchant analysis sets an increasingly politicised British history in its real European context.