The Grass Roots of English History

This is David Hey’s final book, as sadly he passed away during its production. It stands as a testament to his extensive knowledge of English local history, a subject that he championed throughout his career while many of his fellow academic historians treated it with indifference. Here Hey characteristically looks to bridge the gap between academic history and the practitioners of local or family history (though his intended audience is principally the latter) by offering a synthesis of several decades of academic work designed to act as an introduction to the contours of the local societies many non-academic historians dedicate themselves to studying. Any attempt at such a work of synthesis demands admiration; most academic historians would baulk at the prospect. This is especially so given Hey’s broad chronological sweep—most chapters range from Roman Britain to the eighteenth century—and an inclusive disciplinary approach that draws on the insights of archaeology, genetic research, tree-dating and more, to supplement his reading and researches into economic and social history. The book is saturated with illustrative examples and fascinating detail—the first Scarborough Fair was held in 1253 and lasted for forty-five days; by the time of the Norman Conquest only 15 per cent of England was wooded (much the same as today)—which gives it an encyclopaedic quality that will delight some readers, but leave others perhaps feeling overwhelmed in places by a barrage of facts that can eclipse the overall narrative trajectory of a chapter or subsection

Admiration · Art · Discipline · Feeling · Literature · Media studies · Narrative · Political science · Reading (process · Social science · Sociology · Subject (documents · Classics · History · Law · Philippine History and Culture · Philosophy