This massively popular series, first released in 1937, tells the story of our islands in a straightforward, chronological narrative. Carter and Mears' writing is fast-paced, muscular and direct, and covers the matrix of British history including overseas events, the arts, religion and major social changes.

Updated and revised by an expert hand, this series is being revived at a time when the failure of our schools to provide a connected, fact-based sense of the events that defined our nation, is being rightly and increasingly lamented by politicians, parents and the media. Volume V guides the reader through the American War of Independence, the French Revolution and the growth of industry in Britain and abroad.