A History of the English Speaking Peoples

From the Boer War to the War against Terror, the English-speaking peoples of the world dominated the twentieth century and beyond.

Here, in a brilliant narrative, Andrew Roberts tells the story of those countries where English is spoken by the majority of people as their first language – Great Britain and her dependencies, the United States, Australia, Canada, the British West Indies and Ireland.

Roberts, the Wolfson History Prize-winner for his life of Lord Salisbury, draws for inspiration on Winston Churchill, who wrote: ‘Every nation or group has its own tale to tell. Knowledge of the trials and struggles is necessary to all who would comprehend the problems, perils, challenges, and opportunities which confront us today.’ In the course of researching this book, Roberts researched the private papers of over two hundred individuals in thirty archives on three continents.

As the greatest of all the trials and perils of the English-speaking peoples took place in the twentieth century, Roberts’ book covers the four world-historical struggles in which the English-speaking peoples have been engaged – against German Nationalism, Axis Fascism, Soviet Communism and now Islamicist Terrorism. This is by no means solely a political history; Roberts also writes with great insight on the cultural and social development of the English-speaking global diaspora since 1900.

A History of the English Speaking Peoples Since 1900 is an enthralling account of the century in which the political culture of one linguistic world-grouping comprehensively triumphed over all the others.