 | |
| 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.
Content
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.
The book depicts the union of England and Scotland as a desirable and inevitable event, and praises rebels and the collective will of the common people in opposing tyrants, including kings like John and Charles I.
Influence and impact
The book inspired the parody 1066 and All That.
Prime Minister David Cameron chose Our Island Story when asked to select his favourite childhood book in October 2010:
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.
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.
References
- OLIS
- ^ 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
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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