Domesday: A Search for the Roots of England

Great. Immediately going to read it again. Too much to digest at one go.
...and now I have skimmed through it again it's going with the reference books on the shelf. It gives a persuasive view of a great sweep of English history, connecting the detail of written records, place names and archaeology with his ideas.

Author attempts to trace earlier social organization connections from the Domesday Book data. For example, Domesday shows a certain area was organized a certain way ... was it reorganized by the Normans or a carry over of an earlier (Roman, Angle, Saxon, Danelaw, etc.) era? The author presents his interpretation for each of the different eras in an informative and entertaining way, supplemented with aerial pictures of manor field layouts, etc. A decent reference source.

Loved this. I thoroughly enjoy all of Michael Wood's work. Having seen and re-seen a great deal of his films it was easy to hear his voice narrating Domesday as I read.

Wise words from the Epilogue:

"The past is only safe in the sense that it has happened - that is the attraction of history, and at the same time the catch. In fact, the past is always changing - changing in relation to the present, in relation to the point of view of the living."

Great. Immediately going to read it again. Too much to digest at one go.
...and now I have skimmed through it again it's going with the reference books on the shelf. It gives a persuasive view of a great sweep of English history, connecting the detail of written records, place names and archaeology with his ideas.

Michael Wood's history books are marvellously day with a good combination of text and pictures.

Signed by Michael Wood.