Books on Britain

Stonehenge does not stand alone: it is surrounded by earlier monuments, it was built alongside a settlement and other sites, and it presides over graves and shrines from people who lived centuries and even millennia later. In modern history, it has inspired a Druidry movement, hosted a military airbase, drawn festival crowds and seen police brutality. Susan Greaney pulls out five books that tell the many stories of Stonehenge, the astonishing monument that continues to surprise us with each new excavation.

"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there," wrote L.P. Hartley. The question is: in what ways? Historian Ian Mortimer talks us through five influential books that shed light on daily life in medieval England—from monastic communities and great households to the gruelling lives of the peasantry.

In order to have fewer failed projects, we need to address some of the deep structural incentives in the system, argues Jonathan Simcock, who spent 16 years leading and advising on large UK government projects. He talks us through books to read to understand more about big projects and why they go wrong, and how to do better in future.

Thomas Hardy, author of many classic novels including Tess of the d'Ubervilles and Far From the Madding Crowd, is best known for his books that explore the social mores and class divides of rural life in 19th-century England. Here, Mark Chutter—chair of the Thomas Hardy Society—talks us through five key texts by Hardy, and explains why they have stood the test of time.

There's nothing in modern works of fiction that wasn't already there in the great novels of the 18th century, argues Sophie Gee, a professor of English at Princeton University and co-host of the Secret Life of Books podcast. She talks us through five of her favourites, from the irrepressible Moll Flanders to the melancholic beauty of Sense and Sensibility.

Various interpretations of imperial history have become deeply entrenched in the so-called culture wars. But this is nothing new, argues Charlotte Lydia Riley, author of the 'alternative history' Imperial Island: historians have always served political agendas. Here she recommends five of the best books on British colonialism.

What will historians say about the latest period in British history? What has stayed the same, and what is vastly different from our parents' generation? Andrew Hindmoor, professor of politics at the University of Sheffield and author of Twelve Days that Made Modern Britain, recommends books that give insights into contemporary British history.

For avid readers always on the lookout for new books to fall in love with, finding a good author and reading every single book they've ever written is a not uncommon strategy. British crime novelist Lesley Thomson introduces some of her favourite books, all works of historical fiction set in England.

A city of hidden depths and morbid fascination, by turns respectable and savage. Iain Sinclair picks five novels that capture the spirit and rich history of London.

Britain is a bewilderingly motley nation of phlegmatic grumblers, says the author and editor Matthew Engel – a seaside resort-going, class-conscious people haunted by loss of empire, and we can’t even agree on what the country is called