From the earliest pre-history to the present day, Jeremy Black's vigorous and fascinating narrative explores the rich historical influence of the British Isles and the varied stages through which they have passed to achieve their present identity. Giving proper weight to all four, often fractious, components of the British Isles, Black provides the reader with a balanced and absorbing account--political, social, economic, and cultural--of an extraordinary shared history. In the second edition of this highly successful text, each chapter has been thoroughly revised and updated in the light of recent scholarship.