Innovation

The History of England from the Boer War to the Millennium Dome

By: Peter Ackroyd

Narrated by: Antony Ferguson

The sixth and final volume in Peter Ackroyd’s magnificent History of England series, taking us from the Boer War to the Millenium Dome.

Innovation brings Peter Ackroyd’s History of England to a triumphant close. Ackroyd takes listeners from the end of the Boer War and the accession of Edward VII to the end of the 20th century, when his great-granddaughter Elizabeth II had been on the throne for almost five decades.

It was a century of enormous change, encompassing two world wars, four monarchs (Edward VII, George V, George VI, and the queen), the decline of the aristocracy and the rise of the Labour Party, women’s suffrage, the birth of the NHS, the march of suburbia, and the clearance of the slums. It was a period that saw the work of the Bloomsbury Group and T.S. Eliot, of Kingsley Amis and Philip Larkin, from the end of the post-war slump to the Technicolor explosion of the 1960s, to free love and punk rock, and from Thatcher to Blair.

A vivid, richly peopled tour de force, Innovation is Peter Ackroyd writing at the height of his powers.

©2021 Peter Ackroyd (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing

Out with a whimper not a bang.

While his description of the events seemed factual, his editorializing of the post war political events detracted from the enjoyment of the book. I enjoyed the previous volumes very much. Now, I wonder if he was always editorializing and I just didn’t notice.

Actually… Boring.

I’ve read all 6 in this series now. This one (which I expected to be the best), was in fact, the worst. Biggest reason: it glances off of most significant historical events of the 20th century and focuses increasingly on cultural aspects of society. It did solid justice to Thatcher-ism and the fallout, but that was the highlight for me.

Enjoyable, accessible history of 20th century England

I’ve listened to all the books in this series now, and they’ve all been great. I wasn’t quite as keen on this one as some of the others, but it was still very enjoyable. Great narration.

Riveting History

l listened to each volume. I enjoyed every minute! And learned much - or re-learned much that I had forgotten.

An Opinionated and slanted History of England.

Having listened to the first 5 wonderfully written volumes in Ackroyd’s history of England, and found them to be interesting, informative, and a great laying out of the history of England, I was hugely disappointed as I listened to this final book in the set. As the author enters the 19th, and especially as he progresses through the 20th, century, he slowly switches from recording history to sermonizing and giving a heavily opinionated view of what he feels were the right decisions, or what the correct form the government should be (democratic socialism).

Now, his love of socialism or socialistic ideals isn’t the issue as such. The problem I have with this volume in the series, is that, in line with the earlier 5 books, this was supposed to be about the history of England, not an opinion piece showing his preferred form of governance, or explanations of why decisions or actions taken were not correct, or in accord his views.

The book was still of value, and interesting in a number of ways. Having read and listened to many books on many different time periods of English, Welsh, and Scottish history, this was the first for me that covered all of the 19th & 20th centuries. Thus I did learn a lot, especially of one person’s very specific over view of this time period.

Recommendation? Over all the series is very good, even with the above review taken into account. Thus, if you have the time, give it a listen.