A History of Britain by Simon Schama.

This is a huge set of books, so I listened to them on tape. I was quite impressed. Schama managed the difficult task of covering an enormous time span, getting the major important events in, and including enough tidbits of less-important but interesting information about the various time periods.

For example: Did you know that the Normans brought prefab castles with them when the invaded England in 1066?

The tapes are also well-read which, in this case, means I scarcely notice the narrator, Timothy West.

The series is also available in DVD, but I’m not likely to sit still for that long and, from what I saw of the first DVD, the book has more detail and texture than the film.