History set

I want to read a little more history, and plan on buying one of Folio’s older sets and hoped the wisdom of this community could help me decide which one I should aim for.
The three sets under consideration are AJP Taylor’s ‘Century of Conflict’, Macauley’s ‘History of England’ or Tuchman’s 4 volume set.
Please could anyone who has read any of these help to rank these?
Separately which version of Macauley is considered the best, is the 2009 version preferable to the one in the mid-80s or are they identical except the binding?

Tuchman is a fun read. I don’t have experience with the others.

Cheers.

By far the best writer is Macauley--but he is also by far the most biased. I have the 2009 version and have no complaints. The books are very elegant. Note that you can buy separately the volumes that continue the story through, I think, the early 1700s (I don't have the volumes within reach ).

>3 podaniel:

Other Macaulays:

History of England from 1485 to 1685
History of England in the Eighteenth Century

I'm afraid I can't help you myself as I have read 20ish pages of Macaulay and neither of the others, but do you have any particular preferences within the field? Period of history, aspect of history (IE does social history or the more traditional 'kings, dates and battles' history), and stylewise do you go more for pop, quick to read or more academic stuff? All the best and sorry I can't give you pointers myself.

Macaulay is entertaining... but also a product of his time and extremely one-sided. While the prose is good, if you are not well versed in English history, you should pick up a more modern historian to complement him or you may have some... weird ideas of what happened.

Both Taylor and Tuchman are very readable and know what they are talking about so... really comes down to personal preferences there.

I do read a bit of history and think I have a reasonable base in these areas. Overall I am probably more confident in more recent ages - I have read many history of Englands, but find that only certain aspects ever stick. ‘A short history of the English people’ by Green is probably my favourite that I have currently read.
If Macauley is the most entertaining (even if the least balanced) then this sounds like a win for me! Thanks

The 5 Volume Middle Ages set is good with a couple of exceptional volumes.

I would not recommend Runciman's 3 volume Byzantium set unless you balance it with say Monks of War etc.

>8 LesMiserables: You mean Runciman's Crusades set? Byzantium is by John Julius Norwich

>8 LesMiserables: Thanks for the recommendation of the 5 vol Middle Ages set. I must confess that last year I bought a collection of 35 Folios, and whilst I have read the majority, this set was part of it and I am yet to tackle it! Good to hear that it is worth reading, I’ll promote it up my reading order.

>9 elladan0891: Yes, sorry, I had both in my head obviously when typing. Ha!