Peter Ackroyd’s History of England series is one of my favourites. These books are comprehensive and spanning but are fast moving and fun to read. He hits all of the major points without feeling like a textbook, a true feat. And excellent news for modern history fans: the final book in the series is finally available. Let’s jump into modern period and chat about why Innovation by Peter Ackroyd should be your next history read! Thank you to NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Innovation (The History of England #6), Peter Ackroyd
Innovation brings Peter Ackroyd’s History of England to a triumphant close. Ackroyd takes readers from the end of the Boer War and the accession of Edward VII to the end of the twentieth century, when his great-granddaughter Elizabeth II had been on the throne for almost five decades.
It was a century of enormous change, encompassing two world wars, four monarchs (Edward VII, George V, George VI and the Queen), the decline of the aristocracy and the rise of the Labour Party, women’s suffrage, the birth of the NHS, the march of suburbia and the clearance of the slums. It was a period that saw the work of the Bloomsbury Group and T.S. Eliot, of Kingsley Amis and Philip Larkin, from the end of the post-war slump to the technicolor explosion of the 1960s, to free love and punk rock, and from Thatcher to Blair.
Why You Should Read This…
This book spans from the Boer War and Queen Victoria’s death through to Diana, Princess of Wales’ death in 1997. It is a busy and sometimes overwhelming century in English history. Certain figures, like Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher stick out, but for the longest time it was a blur to me. Innovation focuses on politics and society rather than royals (despite the cover), so I found that it balanced out my modern royal history really well. If you aren’t familiar with English political parties, I would say 2-3 minutes of quick reading is all you need to follow this book. It is so rare to find comprehensive books that don’t feel like they’ve been assigned for a secondary school or university course, and Ackroyd’s book is anything but a textbook.
If you are a dedicated reader of Ackroyd’s History series or want to know more about England in the twentieth century, Innovation is the perfect book for you. (Particular for fans of The Crown who enjoy the royals but maybe could learn a bit more about the political side of things, like me…)
