A. L. Morton (1903–1987)

This review of the history of England was unexpectedly rich and insightful. Morton in his epilogue says that the book is not so much history as an exercise in historical interpretation. It is complex and ambitious and for me was a facinating overview of the economic and political forces that created Britain up to modern times. In a little over 500 pages, this book provides a densely packed summary from the pre-Roman tribes to the early 20th century.
I was initially looking for an overview of British history from a common person’s point of view, like Colin James’ excellent Cambridge Illustrated History of France. Although Morton’t book touches on the lives of common people, it’s focus is more to create an understanding for readers who are common people so that they can understand the forces that shape their lives. It does not dwell on detail much but focuses on the broad social, political, economic and technological forces as they were understood by a left-leaning historian writing in the 1930s. Morton sees history as a continuous process of change and class struggle, not as an abstract movement but as people struggling to gain class interests that are important in their everyday lives. When talking about the shift from agricultural and craft production to the early phases of the industrial revolution, for example, he shows how trading and transportation technology created markets for factory products, but also how working people resisted through organized rebellions over centuries as well as through their individual attempts to protect their livelihoods.
Although well grounded in historical fact, Morton does not hold back his opinions and he can be quite witty in his descriptions, which makes the density of the text easier to work through.
I suspect Morton’s interpretation is open to some dispute and updating, but he provides an understanding of why British society was shaped the way it was, such as why the Romans entered Britain (to prevent their suporting the Gauls) and eventually left; how feudalism worked in the middle ages, but gave way to centralized political structures; how Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army changed contemporary warfare and politics; and how privatization of the commons led to both the exploitation and the growth of the industrial working class. I can imagine this book being a text for a working class discussion group, easily providing enough points in each chapter to stimulate an evening’s education sessions for a year. In fact, this is not a quick read – it took me months to read it because there is so much in each chapter that I wanted to absorb each section before moving on to the next. There’s too much in each brief section to quickly read and move on. It’s well worth the time, though.
As a Canadian, we learn some highlights of English history, such as the Magna Carta and the Reformation. We get little detail, however, and less understanding. (We don’t learn that the Magna Carta was ignored and largely irrelevant until it suited bourgeious ideology in the struggle against the Stuarts, when it was brought out of storage and revered.) Although this book doesn’t cover the last half of the last century, it does give a basis for an understanding that goes far beyond historical facts. It added a great deal to my recent vacation in Britain, notwithstanding that it ends in the period leading up to the cataclysm of the Second World War.… (mere)