eithe's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
2.5
Can be exceptionally dry in places. Some of the early chapters seem to boil down to a chronological list of names that seem to blend together, with little effort made to distinguish any character of these historical figures.
Lots of words are dedicated to religious changes in the history of Wales but it feels like too much additional knowledge is assumed. In fact, there are many passages that could have afforded a little more context or explanation. In other words, this book sometimes fails to stand alone.
For someone unfamiliar with the geography of Wales would struggle to follow much of this book.
Infrequent diagrams often provide little help or context to the text. Given the above notes, much more use could have been made of this space.
All of this said, there are interesting gems sprinkled throughout the book, with the latter half being particularly interesting. It's a shame that one has to work for these nuggets, though.
Lots of words are dedicated to religious changes in the history of Wales but it feels like too much additional knowledge is assumed. In fact, there are many passages that could have afforded a little more context or explanation. In other words, this book sometimes fails to stand alone.
For someone unfamiliar with the geography of Wales would struggle to follow much of this book.
Infrequent diagrams often provide little help or context to the text. Given the above notes, much more use could have been made of this space.
All of this said, there are interesting gems sprinkled throughout the book, with the latter half being particularly interesting. It's a shame that one has to work for these nuggets, though.
districtreads's review against another edition
1.0
Took me over a year to finish because it was just so....economics focused and very much a slog. Was hoping to have more narrative history and storytelling.
archytas's review against another edition
informative
fast-paced
3.5
This is a single volume history of Wales runs just shy of 1000 pages, but still manages to move bewilderingly fast - inevitable given the scope of it. It was a good overview to prepare for deeper reading on the early stuff, and probably covers all I am interested in since 1850.
daisymoon's review against another edition
3.0
This book was very interesting and I did not finish it not because of its lack of quality but because of lack of time and motivation on my end. I am not an historian and feel like this book is not really for someone with a light interest in a country's history but more for someone that really is passionate about it.
caidyn's review
informative
medium-paced
4.0
A dense read about Wales from prehistory to, I'd say, more the 1980s. I'd be interested in seeing the updates for today's times if they did an updated edition.
realbooks4ever's review
2.0
A HISTORY OF WALES, by John Davies, chronicles the turbulent history of Wales from ancient times until the late part of the 20th century.
Only those familiar with the layout of Wales can really follow the text, as there isn't a general map that shows major cities, rivers, etc. Therefore, it doesn't do a lot of good to tell us that something happened between this river and that river if we have no idea where those rivers are. Oddly, there are several maps of insignificant items such as "the distribution of hill-forts" and "Poor Law Unions, registration counties and registration districts".
The writing itself has to be some of the driest I've ever come across. Myriad statistics weigh down this 718-page history, and rarely do we get even a glimpse of the personalities behind the names of the participants in the creation of this country.
After slogging through this book, the only things I learned, and which was reiterated throughout, was that the Welsh are a fractious lot, are unable to determine among themselves what it means to be Welsh, the English are fond of creating committees to study them, and they mined a lot of coal. Surely there is more to Wales than this!
I'm a big fan of Wales, and hope to someday visit that great country, but I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone new to studying it, or contemplating going there. Stick with the pretty travel guides!
--Stephanie
Only those familiar with the layout of Wales can really follow the text, as there isn't a general map that shows major cities, rivers, etc. Therefore, it doesn't do a lot of good to tell us that something happened between this river and that river if we have no idea where those rivers are. Oddly, there are several maps of insignificant items such as "the distribution of hill-forts" and "Poor Law Unions, registration counties and registration districts".
The writing itself has to be some of the driest I've ever come across. Myriad statistics weigh down this 718-page history, and rarely do we get even a glimpse of the personalities behind the names of the participants in the creation of this country.
After slogging through this book, the only things I learned, and which was reiterated throughout, was that the Welsh are a fractious lot, are unable to determine among themselves what it means to be Welsh, the English are fond of creating committees to study them, and they mined a lot of coal. Surely there is more to Wales than this!
I'm a big fan of Wales, and hope to someday visit that great country, but I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone new to studying it, or contemplating going there. Stick with the pretty travel guides!
--Stephanie
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