The Story of England - 17 books by Arthur Bryan


Printed:		Author:	Arthur Bryan
Publisher:	Miscellaneous	ISBN:

	The Age of Chivalry by Arthur Bryant Publisher: House of Stratus Suppliers:
	The Age of Elegance: 1812-1822 by Arthur Bryant Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd Suppliers: Printed: 1975, Hardcover: 410 pages Amazon Review: Better Researched on Military than Society. This is the last volume in the author's series on the British during the wars with France. As such, his emphasis really is on the military and naval expeditions and the peace conferences. Those chapters I found easier reading than most military science books, so I certainly recommend it if you are wanting to get acquainted with the Peninsular campaign. He does fairly slight the war in the east against Napoleon, because the British weren't in it. I was particularly impressed with his attention to the details of what life was like for officers and men between battles, something usually skipped in the concentration on strategy and tactics. If this were all it attempted to cover, I would give it four stars. His chapters on life in England at the time, especially the festivities around the allied sovreigns after victory, seem essentially good in their description of the countryside, the towns, and the people. However, I noted that his descriptions of some notables of London society were built on common myths of them, rather than better researched fact. Most especially, his handling of Brummell (my present object of research) struck me as so thoroughly apocryphal, built on later Brummelliana rather than actual memoirs of the man, that it made me wary of accepting the author's information on anyone around him. A book you can only use once you have researched in other books for confirmation everything it says, is an unnecessary detour. For the reader interested in the view of England, I could only give it two stars for insecurity, and recommend that you hunt down Priestly's 'Prince of Pleasure,' 1969 instead. There are NO illustrations in 'The Age of Elegance', except a few battle maps, indicative of the real emphasis of the 400+ pages. At the end, I felt I had picked up an excellent milsci book half the size that had been padded out with the peacetime/home front chapters that are less focused and less deeply researched in original materials. The author's style is easy and fluid in the military chapters, without technical gobbledegook: again, excellent for a deep introduction. The other half of the book reads like a compilation of newspaper clippings rewritten by him, as it zooms over the surface of so many subjects, from rural housholds to the supposed mind of this great man or that in reaction to conditions (I distrust his opinions here, as superficial).
	The Elizabethan Deliverance by Arthur Bryant Publisher: William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. Suppliers: Printed: 1981, Hardcover: 272 pages First Edition edition (March 1981) Amazon Review Book Description This is a gripping narrative of the first thirty years of Elizabeth I's reign that culminated in the defeat of the Armada and saw England become a significant world power. Elizabeth had an unusual personal magnetism and political genius. Arthur Bryant describes how she used these rare attributes to inspire her people, start the first colonial plantations in America and found the East India Company - the genesis of the United States and British Empire. England was put on the map of the world. With a new preface by John Sullivan, this book brings to life a vivid period in history, ending with a portrait of Shakespeare's London. AUTHBIO: Sir Arthur Bryant was born in a house on the Royal Sandringham estate and served in the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War. He wrote hugely popular history books, reviving the neglected art of writing history as literature. His first historical biography, Charles II, was published in 1931, followed by Macaulay. Another popular work was his history of the Napoleonic Wars in three volumes. Bryant was knighted in 1954, made a Companion of Honour in 1967 and died in 1985. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
	England of Charles II by Arthur Bryant Publisher: Ayer Co Pub Suppliers: Printed: 1977, Hardcover: 198 pages
	English Saga: 1840-1940 by Arthur Bryant Publisher: House of Stratus Suppliers: Amazon Review Book Description Arthur Bryant's nostalgic panorama of a hundred years in England's history starts with the 'green land far away' of 1840 and ends with a heroic nation at war in 1940. With a new preface by Reba N Soffer, this is the account of a free people in all its diversity of life and custom. It is a wonderfully patriotic look at a country's past accomplishments - and a rallying cry for its future. The onward march of democracy, rise of the trade unions, the Commonwealth, the Empire and the First World War, are described alongside the English at play. Whether it was the masses at music halls and the Derby, or the privileged at their Pall Mall clubs or dinner parties, Bryant writes of them with affection. "REVIEW: 'As fine a piece of English prose as we have had in the last half century' (Sir Hugh Walpole) "REVIEW: 'This book is a moving expression of a devoted love of England' (The Times) "REVIEW: 'Here in just over 300 vividly descriptive pages is the story of England between 1840 and 1940. . .it is not merely the record of kings and statesmen and wars and glory but also the story of the common Englishman, how he lived and what he thought' (Daily Mail) AUTHBIO: Sir Arthur Bryant was born in a house on the Royal Sandringham estate and served in the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War. He wrote hugely popular history books, reviving the neglected art of writing history as literature. His first historical biography, Charles II, was published in 1931, followed by Macaulay. Another popular work was his history of the Napoleonic Wars in three volumes. Bryant was knighted in 1954, made a Companion of Honour in 1967 and died in 1985.
	The Fire and the Rose by Arthur Bryant Publisher: House of Stratus Suppliers: Printed: 2001, Paperback: 330 pages Amazon Review Book Description Britain's favourite historian, Sir Arthur Bryant, compiled nine of his previously published essays in The Fire and the Rose to illustrate 'dramatic contests of will in which the contenders stake their all, including their life'. These passages of heroic endeavour span a period of seven centuries and include such diverse characters and significant moments in history as 'the holy blissful martyr' St Thomas ` Becket and his murder in Canterbury Cathedral, Charles II's flight to France and Horatio Nelson's glorious victories at the Nile and Trafalgar. With a new preface by Andrew Roberts. "REVIEW: 'They are tales of human endeavour by simple men and show what we British can do under valiant leadership when duty calls. I commend the book to all and particularly to the younger generation' (Field-Marshal Montgomery, Sunday Times) "REVIEW: 'One of the pleasures in reading The Fire and the Rose is that of watching a master craftsman at work' (New York Times) "REVIEW: 'A superb book' (Robert Pitman, Sunday Express) AUTHBIO: Sir Arthur Bryant was born in a house on the Royal Sandringham estate and served in the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War. He wrote hugely popular history books, reviving the neglected art of writing history as literature. His first historical biography, Charles II, was published in 1931, followed by Macaulay. Another popular work was his history of the Napoleonic Wars in three volumes. Bryant was knighted in 1954, made a Companion of Honour in 1967 and died in 1985.
	King Charles II by Arthur Bryant Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd Suppliers: Printed: 1960, Hardcover: 368 pages
	Makers of the Realm by Arthur Bryant Publisher: House of Stratus Suppliers: Printed: 2004
	Restoration England: 1660-1702 by Arthur Bryant Publisher: William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. Suppliers: Printed: 1934
	Restoration England: 1660-1702 by Arthur Bryant Publisher: House of Stratus Suppliers: Printed: 2004
	Samuel Pepys: The Man in the Making by Arthur Bryant Publisher: World Books Suppliers:
	Samuel Pepys: The Saviour of the Navy by Arthur Bryant Publisher: Panther Books Ltd Suppliers: Printed: 1985, Paperback: 352 pages Amazon Review By John Harding Arthur Bryant is a historian who knows how to tell a good tale. In this case his subject is a man who has left us one of the most fascinating tales, the diary of one of the most remarkable Englishmen of all time. From modest origins, Pepys rose to become Secretary of the Navy and, in effect, the founder of the British civil service. In the last of three volumes Bryant tells how Pepys applied rigour and devotion to the hitherto rather slapdash business of building the fleet that was to be Britain's main bulwark until the Second World War. What I most love about this book is that Bryant loves his subject. Love is not too strong a word. Admiration thrives on what is admirable. Love is forgiving, and admits of the human, of the foibles and weaknesses. I am thinking not only of Pepys's well-known freedom with women servants but also, for example, the satisfaction with which he surveys the swelling of his fortune, accrued sometimes by means that would not pass 20th century scrutiny, but that more than met the standards of the time. Bryant does not insist on the ethics of hindsight. The diary of Pepys records enough matter to make ten average biographies. A pity, then, that it is rather hard to read in the original. 17th century English - certainly Pepys's English - often has a headlong flow which leaves us uncertain as to the exact relationship between parts of a sentence. Bryant gives us ample passages of direct quotation, but in between, his own narrative often adopts a tincture of Pepys's own style, so that we are not wrenched harshly from Pepys's own world. We feel Bryant is telling it as Pepys would tell it if he came among us.
	Samuel Pepys: The Years of Peril 1669-1683 by Arthur Bryant Publisher: Panther Books Ltd Suppliers: Printed: 1985, Paperback: 384 pages
	Triumph in the West: 1943-1946 by Arthur Bryant Publisher: Grafton Suppliers: Printed: 1986, Paperback: 576 pages
	The Turn of the Tide: 1939-1942 by Arthur Bryant Publisher: Grafton Suppliers: Printed: 1986, Hardcover: 768 pages
	The Years of Endurance: 1793-1802 by Arthur Bryant Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd Suppliers: Printed: 1975, Hardcover: 359 pages Amazon Review By Thomas R. Dean (Morristown, New Jersey USA) Sir W. Arthur Bryant was a historian of a type perhaps no longer much found: the romantic patriot. His trilogy's stirring evocation of the wars with Napoleon (Years of Endurance, Years of Victory and Age of Elegance) have been among my favorite books of history. Written during the Second World War, with its echoes of Britain's isolation during another period when another Continental despot sought European conquest, yet military defeat failed to staunch the British spirit, Bryant (who writes a bit better than that purple prose) was moved to write this trilogy. The books are simply thrilling. His interest in social and economic subjects is not great; his interest is primarily in heroic personalities on the world stage, and the conflict of "national psychologies". His description of battles on land and sea is wonderful. I love these books, and I'm sure all but the academic historian (which Bryant clearly is not) would too.
	Years of Victory: 1802-1812 by Arthur Bryant Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd Suppliers: Printed: 1975, Hardcover: 466 pages Amazon Review By Mr. Lee Unsworth "nelsons hero" (Chorley uk) Arthur Bryant's Years of Victory 1802-1812 is an excellent narrative history of the Napoleonic period. Evidently this volume has been painstakingly researched in the smallest detail. A fluent style brings the encounters at Trafalgar, Corruna and Torres Vedres to life in their bloody and ruthless reality. This book is recommended to those in search of a narrative history written in a traditional style, but would be hard-going without any benchmark knowledge of the period. I look forward to reading the remaining volumes in the series (of three.)