![]() If the space given over to the history had been devoted to an analysis of the development of the sites, and of the technology that supported them, the book would be valid. This is all taken for granted for a readership which Williams assumes to know very little about the history of any period. There is no explanation of the principles of flanking fire, or of how the forts of such nineteenth century lines as those around Chatham or Portsmouth were meant to work together. Secondly, he should explain how the various systems worked surprisingly this book never actually discusses the effectiveness of a Roman catapult, a mediaeval stone-throwing trebuchet, or an early cannon in the attack of a wall. Firstly the author should compare the sites through time, showing how the ideas of attack and defence changed. To make a book on the defences work, however, needs two things. Williams does acknowledge at times the alternative roles of living and administration for castles and Iron Age forts, and I would be glad to admit that there is a case for looking at the sites purely from the point of view of their defences it is just that I would not want to do it. I, for one, would quarrel with his treatment of all these sites purely from the point of view as structures built for war and defence: until the sixteenth century at least there was no such thing as a purely military fort. It is possible to simplify history without either dumbing down to this extent or making basic errors: all the old chestnuts are here, from the brutal creation of the New Forest to the (Wrong but Wromantic) Royalist neglect of artillery in favour of cavalry in the seventeenth century English Civil War. It is both anachronistic and inaccurate to compare the Norman behaviour after the Battle of Hastings with that of Nazi forces in Poland it is also unnecessary and likely to offend the victims of the latter, given the amount that has been written explaining the development of eleventh century England before and after 1066. Combined with the slangy language, this can range from the crude to the tasteless. Each chapter of the book starts with a summary of the political history of the period concerned of an embarrassingly populist kind, the sort of history that 1066 and All That parodied, and (we hoped) had killed alas, it is alive and well in Mr. Williams does not know certainly he shows little sign of extensive reading in the recent literature on the subject. If people are inspired to visit the monuments, as his guide clearly intends with its lists and instructions on access, where are they to find out more about them? The suspicion must be that Mr. However, there is not even any guide to further reading. There no references, which might be reasonable for a popular book. Unfortunately, presentation is without substance. It is written in a free and easy style, which degenerates into slang at times in its effort to be informal. The geographical coverage is good, with Scotland being well represented, unlike the many guides which hardly venture into the north of England. It is well illustrated with many colour photographs, especially of the earlier sites. The structure of the book is chronological, from the Iron Age to the 1960s in eight chapters, but there are inset features at regular intervals on individual sites, which break up the narrative. The page size is good and so is the paper quality. ![]() At first sight this is an attractive book.
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