The Isles cover art

The Isles

A History

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Isles

By: Norman Davies
Narrated by: Andrew Sachs
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £9.99

Buy Now for £9.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

 Here is the best-selling and controversial history of the British Isles, including Ireland, from the author of Europe: A History. Emphasizing long-standing European connections and positing a possible break-up of the United Kingdom, this agenda-setting work is destined to become a classic.© Norman Davies; (P) Macmillan Publishers Ltd Archaeology Europe Great Britain England Imperialism Ireland King Royalty

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Trail of Hope cover art
The Anglo-Saxon World cover art
The Birth of Classical Europe cover art
Waverley cover art
Killers of the King cover art
Endurance cover art
Victorious Century cover art
The Scots cover art
In Search of the Dark Ages cover art
Suleiman the Magnificent cover art
English History Made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable cover art
Constantine the Emperor cover art
Worlds at War cover art
The Fall of the Roman Empire cover art
A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons cover art
The Norman Conquest cover art

Critic reviews

"A historiographical milestone." ( Sunday Times)
"If ever a history book were a tract for the times, it is The Isles: A History...a masterwork." ( The Times)
"A book which really will change the way we think about our past...marvellously rich and stimulating." ( Evening Standard)
All stars
Most relevant  
Broad brush super speedy romp through the entire history of British isles and Ireland - the synoptic approach is very effective and delivers a zoomed-out bird’s eye perspective-changing result. Impressively grand scope.

Potted history of our sceptred/septic isle

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is a great overview of Irish and British history. Given the complicated nature of it, it's good to have the whole story told in one volume. Each chapter is told in the context of the previous one and so helped me with the jubbled histories that I had in knew. I will definitely give this another listen at some stage. The narration is also excellent. My only critique is the lack of modern/20th Century Irish history.

Really enjoyable

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In its title I saw hope that, at last, a book dealing with Ireland and Britain was going to be objective. The author does attempt to be just that. British history does constitute the majority of the book (disproportionately at times), yet Ireland is never too far away. The author goes out of his way to recount the development of national identities, reminding readers/listeners of the immense European influence (Gallic/French, Dutch, Viking/Danish,Saxon/German, etc) on Britain and the foolhardiness of speaking hubristically of an continuity to the 'English' nation, while ignoring the Celtic origins of the Britons, the excessive weight academics apportion to the Roman influence, the French speaking (and often French-based) 'Kings of England', and, of course the Dutch and German kings of later centuries.

The narrator, Andrew Sachs, has a nice voice, yet perhaps with the exception of French words (which he appears to relish) his pronunciation of non-English words, be they Irish, Welsh, Scots-Irish, etc. is awful to the point of them being at times incomprehensible. In the discussion of P and Q Celtic languages, the deficiencies actually impact on the thrust of the argument as heard by the listener. Inconsistency too is a problem, as Sachs adds all the Gallic flourishes to some French names - Henry is 'Oonree' - while Humbert is just that; Hum~bert, as opposed to Uum bear.

The last third of the book is all too rushed. The author appears to try to get through the British colonial expansion and contraction as quickly as possible - to the detriment of the book. He bounces around the twentieth century like a ping-pong ball, unsure where to place the emphasis.

His treatment of Ireland's later history has a number of inaccuracies that would call into question the standard of research - 'Thomas' Wolfe Tone? The Anti-Treaty side winning the Irish Civil War?

Not bad at all, but certainly not flawless.

Good, but inconsistent.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Succinct, comprehensive and balanced. Norman Davies delivers a masterful story of the Isles, while the narration is enthralling.

Clear and erudite.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Would you listen to The Isles again? Why?

I would listen again, there is a lot of information in there so I'm sure there are parts I missed, and I found it really useful to put the history I already knew into perspective.

What other book might you compare The Isles to, and why?

This is a history book, it is well written but there is little to no narrative aside from the chronology of it.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator was unable to pronounce Irish words, he had obviously been given some grounding in Welsh which was good but his pronunciation of Irish words was so bad that I had trouble following who he was talking about and only pieced it together from my own memory of Irish history. And I'm not talking about Irish language words, I'm talking about people and place names, any Irish person could have told him how to pronounce the words, and it would, I think have been a quite basic thing to check.

Very interesting listen, poor performance

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Brilliantly read.
Listen again and again and still learn something each time.
Well written.
Getting in touch with my past.

Amazing listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.