Peter Ackroyd

The first volume in a new six-part history of England from acclaimed author Peter Ackroyd. Having written enthralling biographies of London and of its great river, the Thames, Peter Ackroyd now turns to England itself. This first volume of six takes us from the time that England was first settled, more than 15,000 years ago, to the death in 1509...

Tudors by Peter Ackroyd transports readers back to one of the most fascinating and dramatic periods in British history. Rich in detail and atmosphere, and told in vivid prose, this enthralling narrative captures the transformation of England from a settled Catholic country to a formidable Protestant superpower. The book intricately traces the tumultuous reigns of the Tudor monarchs, beginning with...

The English Soul portrays the spirit and nature of English Christianity as it has developed over the last 1,400 years. As the predominant faith of the people, Christianity has been the reflection, perhaps the embodiment, of the English soul. This fascinating new history argues that Christianity has been the anchoring and defining doctrine of England, while accepting respectfully that other...

Celebrated novelist, biographer, and critic Peter Ackroyd paints a vivid picture of one of the world's greatest cities in this brilliant and original work, exploring how the city's many hues have come to shape its history and identity. Think of the colours of London, and what do you imagine? The reds of open-top buses and terracotta bricks? The grey smog...

Now available in paperback, The English Soul portrays the spirit and nature of English Christianity as it has developed over the last 1,400 years. As the predominant faith of the people, Christianity has been the reflection, perhaps the embodiment, of the English soul. This fascinating new history argues that Christianity has been the anchoring and defining doctrine of England, while...

The English Actor charts the uniquely English approach to stagecraft. In thirty chapters, Peter Ackroyd describes, with superb narrative skill, the genesis of acting—deriving from the Church tradition of Mystery Plays—through the flourishing of the craft in the Renaissance to modern methods that followed the advent of film and television. The biographies of the most notable and celebrated actors are...

The English Actor charts the uniquely English approach to stagecraft. In thirty chapters, Peter Ackroyd describes, with superb narrative skill, the genesis of acting—deriving from the Church tradition of Mystery Plays—through the flourishing of the craft in the Renaissance to modern methods that followed the advent of film and television. The biographies of the most notable and celebrated actors are...

No city shaped the modern world quite like London - a powerhouse of trade, finance and empire, the centre of global influence in the nineteenth century. But beyond the familiar stories of power and politics, its true life played out in the streets, where market traders, music hall crowds and factory workers gave it its vitality, its light and its...

Peter Ackroyd's compelling portrait of W. H. Auden, poet of a restless century. Of all the English poets born in the twentieth century, Wystan Hugh Auden is by far the most significant. This forthright biography explores the evolution of his poetic voice in tandem with his shifting beliefs—Existentialism, Marxism, Freudianism, and Anglo-Catholicism—reflecting the intellectual climate of the century. Rooted in...

Civil War by Peter Ackroyd is a masterful continuation of his stunning exploration of England's history. This volume begins with the ascension of James VI of Scotland to the English throne as James I, following the death of Elizabeth I. It traces the tumultuous and riveting history of England under the Stuart dynasty, concluding with the dramatic deposition and subsequent...

Revolution, the fourth volume of Peter Ackroyd's enthralling History of England, begins in 1688 with a revolution and ends in 1815 with a famous victory. In it, Ackroyd takes readers from William of Orange's accession following the Glorious Revolution to the Regency, when the flamboyant Prince of Wales ruled in the stead of his mad father, George III, and England...

The penultimate volume of Peter Ackroyd's masterful History of England series, Dominion begins in 1815 as national glory following the Battle of Waterloo gives way to post-war depression, spanning the last years of the Regency to the death of Queen Victoria in January 1901. In it, Ackroyd takes us from the accession of the profligate George IV, whose government was...

Ackroyd makes history accessible to the layman - Ian Thomson, Independent Innovation brings Peter Ackroyd's History of England to a triumphant close. In it, Ackroyd takes readers from the end of the Boer War and the accession of Edward VII to the end of the twentieth century, when his great-granddaughter Elizabeth II had been on the throne for almost five...