As an anglophile, I was primed to love this one but ultimately found it a little bit boring. Perhaps good for someone who hasn't read as much Bill Bryson?

This was a different, quirky history book, very informative, but I don't see it being a big seller any time soon.

I received a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review
This was not exactly what I was expecting. It was too technical

Ok, so this is on me, Turns out there’s more than one author named David Reynolds and turns out the one I read before wasn’t this one. The one I read before wrote a fairly lighthearted travelogue Slow Road To San Francisco, where he drove east to west coast figuring out Trumpian America. There was plenty of historical content in that book so it seemed entirely possible that the same guy would have written Island Stories, alas, this wasn’t the case. A different author by the same name, a proper, very, very serious author of very, very serious historical nonfiction has written this book, which explains why it had such a textbook thing going. In coherent, cohesive and quite arid style this David Reynolds discussed Britain, past and present, great and otherwise, with the main goal and summation leading up to explaining Brexit in historical context. Let’s face it, Brexit was not the craziest political occurrence of 2016, not by a mile. But it was a doozy, an upset to an apple cart that was chugging along for decades. Anytime there’s a dissolution of a union it’s alarming, it begs to be studied and understood. This book can help with that. It explains Britain in such a way that makes Brexit if not inevitable, then at least not at all sudden. Things were simmering below the surface for a long time before that historical vote was ever put in place, from antiimmigrant sentiments to economic resentments. But essentially it seems to be very much the case of a former Empire and major global player declining in size, economy, power and not wanting to take that lying down. It’s an old man trying to stand up and throw punches in a fight that left him well behind, not to die, just to quiet retirement. A tragedy, really. No empire lasts. Britain’s had a great go of it. Now it’s back to being a tiny island, a somewhat reluctant conglomeration of four, with one difficult neighbor. They will always have stories to tell themselves and the world, great stories of bygone days, but modern politics are too unforgiving for all that. And in modern day and age Britain has fared decently, but not epically. There’s been a recurring call to greatness, to make Britain great again and all that, but that slogan (though infinitely more appropriate and apt there) has now been properly poisoned by the US. There’s no real promise of Brexit delivering that greatness, mostly because the vote was brought to life by misinformation and erroneous data, conveniently overlooking major economic facts. But time will tell. Maybe this is the first step to dissolution of yet another union, after all, much like empires, those don’t last either. At any rate, Brexit is very much on track with other growing populist notions around the world. In a way, it’s the more explicable of those. The Island Stories are well told, but not exactly a casual easy read. The narrative is fairly objective, except for a strikingly scathing representation of Theresa May. Somehow, of all the characters in British political past, she gets the sharp end of the stick. Then again the book leaves off well before the resolution, so presumably a sequel is in order at some time in the future, about the aftermath of it all. So all in all an educational read, albeit textbookish. Thanks Netgalley.

A breezy readable history of the UK in the shadow of Brexit. I think the book succeeded in its aim of showing that the stories around "empire," "Britain," "Europe," and "Decline" for simplified, muddled, and misleading for both the remain and leave sides in the Brexit controversy. That said, a lot of the breeziness came from its lack of depth; maybe this would have had more resonance for a UK audience, but many historical situations were passed over with little context or detail which seemed funny in a book devoted to showing the importance of historical context and detail. It did make me want to learn more, however, especially about the complex relationship between Britain and Ireland.

Filled with great facts and thoroughly researched this book weaves together the facts to turn an interesting tale of a wonderful topic into a must read.

Interesting history and insight on British politics for an American reader trying to make sense of things post-Brexit.

I can honestly say that this book was not what I expected. I was looking for an “unconventional” history of Britain, what I got instead was a brief synopsis of the last millennium of British history as a setup for the author’s take on Brexit.

I guess my main issue with this book is that I cannot figure out what the objective of this is. It isn’t a complete history of the UK, there is an underlying assumption that one is familiar with British history as Mr. Reynolds breezes through events that I was unfamiliar with. It isn’t necessarily a study of some facet of history, for Mr. Reynolds hops from one area to the next: empire, decline, India, race discrimination within the empire, sea power, slavery, British territory on the continent (and relations with France), Ireland, Wales & Scotland, etc. Each area is mentioned and briefly recounted, before moving on to the next topic.

All of this seems to be background for Mr. Reynolds to give his take on Brexit, which is the one part of the book that shines, although it will probably feel very dated in a couple of months/years.

So – if you are looking for an unconventional history of Britain, you will be disappointed. If you are looking for some historical context to the Brexit issues (and have a pretty deep knowledge of British history), then this is the book for you. I read at the end that this book came as a result of a college lecture, which has been expanded – that is as good of a description of this book as anything that I can come up with.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Perseus Books, Basic Books
via NetGalley. Thank you!

An excellent read! I really enjoyed the look at modern-day Britain and the factors and influences that led to Brexit.

Many thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

As an American the Brexit vote was very confusing to me.Really had no idea about the movement just kept reading how upset people were.This book explained in an easy to understand manner the idea of Brexit the ramifications.I found this a very interesting read,#Island Stories#netgalley

There's no way around it: the context surrounding Brexit can be confusing for those not from the U.K. This book does an excellent job of creating a concise, tightly packed explanation to understand Britain as it is today through it's recent history.

An American reader is unlikely to understand that the title of this book is a reference to a classic British history textbook for children. The reference is to a British history that many English people, and we Yanks who love them, like to believe about England.
While the British flounder through the chaos of Brexit, the author unpacks the old stories and examines them with rigor. Yes, England was once a great empire, but didn’t its wealth come from the slave trade and subjugation of colonies? These are things we don’t consider great now. And what does it mean to be British? Aren’t the British composed of immigrants themselves? The Scots aren’t entirely pleased to be called British and then there are the Irish. Is it wise to rely on childish stories to make current decisions?
I learned quite a bit here about what the issues are concerning Brexit as well as some things of personal interest. For instance, I’m a fan of traditional Irish music. Now I understand why so many of the protest songs refer to World War 1. This is not light reading but it is informative and was well worth my time. American stories could stand this kind of examination as well.

In "Island Stories," David Reynolds frames Britain’s history through the multiple lenses of a narrative of decline, its relationship with mainland Europe, its own evolution from merely England into the full United Kingdom (and seeds of very possible future devolution) and the British Empire. Each one of these facets by themselves is enough for a dense book or several. But Reynolds manages to condense them into succinct, clear and still extremely informative sections, which when all combined together with this work create a great insight-packed explanatory guide for anyone who wishes to better understand Britain’s present-day context.