Professor Sir Geoffrey Elton was fellow of Clare College, Cambridge since 1954 and between 1967 and 1983 was Professor of English Constitutional History. He was President of the Royal Historical Society between 1972 and 1976, of the Selden Society between 1983 and 1985 and of the Ecclesiastical History Society in 1983-84.

"This book will surely be recognised as the best single-volume concise history of England - lively, authoritative, and yet personal and humane. Only Elton could have written it." Michael Clanchy "This work is thoughtful, witty, and graceful in style, a marvel of compression ... Elton argues forcefully that the English formed, and were formed by, a unique reconciliation of individual freedom with monarchically supervised order. Like Joseph Strayer's on The Medieval Origins of the Modern State (1986), this splendid work is a brief distillation of a lifetime of thoughtful scholarship and deep reflection." Choice"Anyone may enjoy this book." The Times"A study that is both authoritative and individualistic, showing a full awareness but not a full acceptance of recent research." Teaching History

• List of Plates. List of Figures.Preface.Abbreviations.1. The Emergence of England.2. Communitas Anglie.3. The First English Empire.4. From Cromwell to Cromwell.5. The Long Eighteenth Century.6. The Great Climacteric.Further Reading.Index.

Professor Sir Geoffrey Elton was fellow of Clare College, Cambridge since 1954 and between 1967 and 1983 was Professor of English Constitutional History. He was President of the Royal Historical Society between 1972 and 1976, of the Selden Society between 1983 and 1985 and of the Ecclesiastical History Society in 1983-84.

"This book will surely be recognised as the best single-volume concise history of England - lively, authoritative, and yet personal and humane. Only Elton could have written it." Michael Clanchy "This work is thoughtful, witty, and graceful in style, a marvel of compression ... Elton argues forcefully that the English formed, and were formed by, a unique reconciliation of individual freedom with monarchically supervised order. Like Joseph Strayer's on The Medieval Origins of the Modern State (1986), this splendid work is a brief distillation of a lifetime of thoughtful scholarship and deep reflection." Choice"Anyone may enjoy this book." The Times"A study that is both authoritative and individualistic, showing a full awareness but not a full acceptance of recent research." Teaching History

• List of Plates. List of Figures.Preface.Abbreviations.1. The Emergence of England.2. Communitas Anglie.3. The First English Empire.4. From Cromwell to Cromwell.5. The Long Eighteenth Century.6. The Great Climacteric.Further Reading.Index.