A Short History of the English People

A Short History of the English People

Title page for A Short History of the English People (1889)
Author	John Richard Green
Language	English
Publisher	Macmillan and Co.
Publication date	1874
Publication place	England
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
Pages	872 pp

A Short History of the English People is a book written by English historian John Richard Green. Published in 1874, "it is a history, not of English Kings or English Conquests, but of the English People." ^[1]

Background and reception

Green began work on the book in 1869, having been given only six months to live after being hit hard by disease that had plagued him throughout his life. ^[2] Only having around 800 pages to write on, he had to leave out much of what he wanted to include.^{[ citation needed ]} Green intentionally left out the battles of England feeling they did not play a big role in the formation of the nation, saying that historians "too often turned history into a mere record of the butchery of men by their fellow men." ^[3] His new ideas, and omission of information that others felt important, meant Green was criticized by other historians as well as the people close to him.^{[ citation needed ]}

Others thought highly of the book, including Francis Adams, who used quotations from the book in his poem The Peasants' Revolt. ^[4]

Notes

1. Green, John Richard (1902). A Short History of the English People. Vol. I. London: Macmillan. p. xxiv.
2. Green, John Richard (1877). A Short History of the English People. London: Macmillan and Co. pp. iv–v.
3. Green, John Richard (1877). A Short History of the English People. London: Macmillan and Co. pp. iii.
4. Adams, Francis (1910). Songs of the Army of the Night (PDF). London: A. C. Fifield.

Bibliography

• Green, J. R. (1992) [1874]. A Short History of the English People. London: Folio Society.

External links

• The 1902–3 Macmillan illustrated-edition of the work at the Internet Archive:
  • Volume I
  • Volume II
  • Volume III
  • Volume IV