The Penguin Atlas of British and Irish History is a comprehensive guide to the richly eventful history of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Drawing on the very latest findings of historians and archaeologists, and illustrated throughout with detailed maps and photographs, it follows the story of the British Isles from the arrival of the first humans half a million years ago right up to the present day. The atlas takes a multi-faceted view of history. It traces the unfolding of major events, including the Roman conquest, the Black Death, the Civil War, the rise and fall of the British Empire. It looks at the life of society: the growth of towns, the impact of the Industrial Revolution, the changing languages of the British Isles, the spread of literacy. And it explores some fascinating new historical themes, like the ascent of the Victorian seaside resort, the roots of organized sport and the advance of the 20th-century suburb. Throughout the atlas, historical overviews are supplemented by more detailed regional studies that reveal the ways in which history actually affected local communities. In addition, artwork reconstructions of major settlements as they were at key moments in their development - York at the time of the Vikings, Dublin in the 18th century, industrial Manchester - show graphically just how the face of the British Isles has changed over the centuries. Many details have never before been mapped in a general historical atlas, from the extraordinary density of mediaeval markets around London to the true balance of casualties in the Anglo-Irish and Irish Civil wars of the 1920s. Meticulously researched by a team of some forty academics and experts, this is a wonderfully kaleidoscopic account of centuries of change and achievement, and one that brings the history of the British Isles fully to life.