Our Island Story
 | |
| Author | H. E. Marshall |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | A. S. Forrest |
| Cover artist | A. S. Forrest |
| Language | English |
| Subject | History |
| Genre | Reference |
| Publisher | Civitas/Galore Park |
Publication date | 1905 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 512 pp |
| ISBN | 1-902984-74-9 |
| OCLC | 63134934 |
| Followed by | Scotland's 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]
Content
[edit]It 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 impact
[edit]The 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]
When I was younger, I particularly enjoyed Our Island Story by Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall [...] It is written in a way that really captured my imagination and which nurtured my interest in the history of our great nation.[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
[edit]- ^ OLIS
- ^ a b c Hough, Andrew (29 October 2010). "Revealed: David Cameron's favourite childhood book is Our Island Story". Telegraph.co.uk.
- ^ "Our Island Story: Not as Conservative as David Cameron imagines", The Guardian, 7 February 2014. Accessed 11 March 2016
- ^ Samuel, Raphael; Light, Alison (1999). Island stories: unravelling Britain / ed. by Alison Light. London: Verso. p. 210. ISBN 9781859849651.
- ^ Chartres, Richard. "God Speaks First to His Englishmen: The Armada of 1588". www.gresham.ac.uk. Gresham College. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
External links
[edit]
Media related to Our Island Story by H. E. Marshall at Wikimedia Commons
- Full text e-book of An Island Story (1920 U.S. edition) (note that the 1953 edition continued to the First World War).
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall
Our Island Story public domain audiobook at LibriVox
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