The Makers of English History

London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Very Good/Very Good. 1987. First Edition. Hard Cover. 4to 0297789333 Dust jacket complete, unclipped. Yellow cloth covered boards with bright gilt titling on spine. Illustrated end papers. No ownership inscription. 288 pages, text illustrated with black-and-white, and colour reproductions, facsimiles, and photographs; chronology, bibliography, index. Clean and tight. What has made English history what it is? Who are its leading characters? The Makers of English History examines these questions by presenting the lives of a number of extraordinary individuals who have captured the public imagination, whether in the arts, politics, economics or the armed forces. They include not only the accepted giants of English history like Alfred the Great, William Shakespeare or Winston Churchill, but also less expected figures like the fourteenth-century financier William de la Pole or the writer Virginia Woolf. If it is possible to talk about the `English genius', then these are surely the people who best characterize that spirit. After a foreword by Lord Briggs, Provost of Worcester College, Oxford, Professor Norman Stone provides a thought-provoking introduction to a series of essays by fellow historians, who with their specialist knowledge have chosen the men and women they feel have contributed most to English history. Their assessments afford a comprehensive and penetrating view of the character and importance of each `maker', and also vividly evoke the times in which they lived. The many black-and-white and colour illustrations richly complement the text, making this both a valuable work of history and a fascinating biographical study. Jacket illustration: Waterloo, 18th June, 1815; Wellington encouraging a British Infantry square (detail) by R. Hillingford. (Courtesy of Christie's - photo: Bridgeman Art Library) .