The Young Oxford History of Britain and Ireland

With such a distinguished team of authors (not to speak of consultants and the outstanding picture research and editing provided by Oxford University Press), one expects great things, and this book provides them. It is thoroughly up to date - events of 1994 figure largely, for example. It is fresh in that the authors have searched for sources and illustrations that have not been commonly used and make points well. The quality of the illustrations (some 500) is outstanding and the specially commissioned maps pointful and well made. The writing is simple and direct, and the packaging is good - at some stages it seems a bit squashed, but with such a project and only 400-odd pages that is surely understandable. Above all the book does try (not always successfully) to keep its promise to be fair to Wales, Scotland and Ireland. This attempt to avoid some of the old problems of Anglocentricism is much to be commended. In amongst the surging tide of history there are special feature pages which allow for a little bit of study in depth, as it were, and these could be the basis for interesting lessons. I usually give my review copies to my college library. This one will, I think, have to stay on my shelves. Mainly for the pictures (let us name the researcher, Joanne King) but also for the odd moment when I need to glance at a subject again. This is a good place to begin when someone says 'Will you do the Wars of the Roses with year 7 tomorrow please?' If I had a classroom still it would be on my shelves and the index is good enough for children to look things up themselves. Congratulation O.U.P. and team on an outstanding contribution.