Foundation: the History of England from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors

Publisher Marketing: In this massive bestseller in England, one of Britain s most popular and esteemed historians tells the epic story of the birth of the country. Peter Ackroyd, whose work has always been underpinned by a profound interest in and understanding of England's history, now tells the epic story of England itself. In "Foundation," the chronicler of London and of its river, the Thames, takes us from the primeval forests of England s prehistory to the death of the first Tudor king, Henry VII, in 1509. He guides us from the building of Stonehenge to the founding of the two great glories of medieval England: common law and the cathedrals. He shows us glimpses of the country s most distant past a Neolithic stirrup found in a grave, a Roman fort, a Saxon tomb, a medieval manor house and describes in rich prose the successive waves of invaders who made England English, despite being themselves Roman, Viking, Saxon, or Norman French. With his extraordinary skill for evoking time and place and his acute eye for the telling detail, Ackroyd recounts the story of warring kings, civil strife, and foreign wars. But he also gives us a vivid sense of how England s early people lived: the homes they built, the clothes they wore, the food they ate, even the jokes they told. All are brought vividly to life through the narrative mastery of one of Britain s finest writers." Review Citations: Library Journal 05/01/2012 pg. 55 (EAN 9781250003614, Hardcover) Publishers Weekly 08/06/2012 (EAN 9781250003614, Hardcover) Kirkus Reviews 08/15/2012 (EAN 9781250003614, Hardcover) Library Journal 09/01/2012 pg. 111 (EAN 9781250003614, Hardcover) Booklist 10/01/2012 pg. 13 (EAN 9781250003614, Hardcover) - *Starred Review Shelf Awareness 10/26/2012 (EAN 9781250003614, Hardcover) New York Times Book Review 01/20/2013 pg. 9 (EAN 9781250003614, Hardcover) New York Times Book Review 01/27/2013 pg. 22 (EAN 9781250003614, Hardcover) Contributor Bio:  Ackroyd, Peter Peter Ackroyd is the author of "Thames"; "London: The Biography"; "Albion: The Origins of the English Imagination" several successful novels; and the Ackroyd's Brief Lives series.