Our Island Story
Our Island Story: A Child's History of England, published abroad as An Island Story: A Child's History of England, is a book by the British author Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall, first published in 1905 in London by T. C. & E. C. Jack.[1] ContentIt covers the history of England from the time of the Roman occupation until Queen Victoria's death, using a mixture of traditional history and mythology to explain the story of British history in a way accessible to younger readers.[2] The book depicts the union of England and Scotland as a desirable and inevitable event,[3] and praises rebels and the collective will of the common people in opposing tyrants, including kings like John and Charles I. Influence and impactThe book inspired the parody 1066 and All That.[4] Prime Minister David Cameron chose Our Island Story when asked to select his favourite childhood book in October 2010:[2]
Richard Chartres in a lecture delivered at Gresham College mentioned his fondness for this text, relating it to an approach to English history rooted in the works of John Foxe and John Milton.[5] References
External linksMedia related to Our Island Story by H. E. Marshall at Wikimedia Commons
|