A HISTORY OF WALES, by John Davies, chronicles the turbulent history of Wales from ancient times until the late part of the 20th century.
Only those familiar with the layout of Wales can really follow the text, as there isn't a general map that shows major cities, rivers, etc. Therefore, it doesn't do a lot of good to tell us that something happened between this river and that river if we have no idea where those rivers are. Oddly, there are several maps of insignificant items such as "the distribution of hill-forts" and "Poor Law Unions, registration counties and registration districts".
The writing itself has to be some of the driest I've ever come across. Myriad statistics weigh down this 718-page history, and rarely do we get even a glimpse of the personalities behind the names of the participants in the creation of this country.
After slogging through this book, the only things I learned, and which was reiterated throughout, was that the Welsh are a fractious lot, are unable to determine among themselves what it means to be Welsh, the English are fond of creating committees to study them, and they mined a lot of coal. Surely there is more to Wales than this!
I'm a big fan of Wales, and hope to someday visit that great country, but I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone new to studying it, or contemplating going there. Stick with the pretty travel guides!
--Stephanie ( )