Great Tales from English History (3)

From the consultant of Netflix's award-winning series The Crown comes the third volume chronicling English history.

From William and Mary to Watson and Crick, Robert Lacey's final volume of Great Tales from English History offers up the most stirring English stories of the last few centuries. These are the years in which Great Britain came into being and the British Empire reached its zenith. They are also years of great technological advances—from the seed drill to the spinning jenny and the locomotive—and of leaps and bounds in political and moral philosophy.

In his trademark style, Lacey tells the tales that shaped a nation, revisiting some of England's most memorable personages: mad King George III, Samuel Johnson, Captain Cook, Victoria and Albert, Charles Darwin, and Winston Churchill. Alongside them, Lacey introduces some lesser-known historical figures: the feminist crusader who was trampled by the king's racehorse, for instance, or the wife-murdering doctor who was tripped up by the new technology of telegraphy. Royal families and renowned scientists, highwaymen and war heroes—through unforgettable characters, the most pivotal moments of modern English history unfurl.

This is history with pace, punch, and personality. Robert Lacey's pinpoint accuracy in research is matched by his unerring instinct to unearth the stories behind the headlines of history—stories that, with this volume, mark the culmination of his lively, magisterial, and sometimes mischievous trilogy of England's history.