The Anglo-Saxon Age: A Very Short Introduction

John Blair does something in this book that I had thought impossible: he handles over 600 years of history quickly and easily. Well under 100 pages, this book is not only "very short" but very understandable.Blair begins with some background on Roman-occupied Britain, but the story begins in earnest with the Roman withdrawal and the invasions of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes from mainland Europe. From there Blair describes the development of Anglo-Saxon government and culture, giving lots of time to the Viking invasions and English attempts to fight back.Overall, this book is a very good, fast-paced (only 75 pages!) guide to the Anglo-Saxon age. Blair covers all the major topics and even has some time for cultural development, including describing the impact of the English outside of England. The book tends to focus more on the later Anglo-Saxon era, from Alfred the Great to the Norman conquest, but this is really more of a matter of how sparsely documented the early years of the period are.Recommended to anyone hoping for a quick guide to Anglo-Saxon England.

You have to know the history before this book makes sense.

With the main text being only 75 pages, this is a very short Very Short Introduction, but an excellent one nonetheless. It covers the years 450 to 1066, but with just a cursory glance at events before 600. It is fact-packed and readable, with good illustrations, including two very useful maps. You should certainly read Roman Britain: A Very Short Introduction before this, and ideally, The Celts: A very Short Introduction, before that. This particular book leaves the reader with a strong sense of how much the Anglo-Saxon age shaped England's landscape and culture. If you want a broad overview of British history, this may be all you need for this period. If you intend to delve deeper into the era, this is a great place to start.

I really don’t understand why it is that books like this get reviews that are so completely opposite of what they deserve; so I can only assume that it is some kind of “review momentum,” where one glowing review by a dimwit results in assuaging negative one-star reviews into being three-star reviews, and so on. There really is no redeeming quality to this book. The most positive thing I can say about it is that it is rich in information, though that information is partial and fractured. I mean, this author begins the book by referring to the (venerable) Bede, yet does not take some length to express the importance and significance of this figure, and really doesn’t say anything about him, really. If you are familiar with my reviews, and you are willing to take my word for it, skipping the remainder of this review, then I refer you to The Modern Scholars lecture series on “The Anglo-Saxon World,” given by the esteemed D.C. Drout. Unfortunately, I have no book to recommend in this one’s place.It is really unfortunate that Oxford University Press has a couple of these titles, like the “Anglo-Saxon Age” marring its, otherwise, excellent collection of Very Short Introductions. Unlike the other historians that the Press employed to author its history works, John Blair can’t tell a story if his life depended on it, which is kind of an oddity among historians. This gives me the impression that he is some sort of researcher-historian, who lives in an archive somewhere, and didn’t get into history for the love of storytelling and stitching together facts in a coherent fashion. This is one of the major failings of the book: it simply wasn’t interesting as a narrative. I read many books that the majority of readers would find horrifically dull, and yet this one is one among an elite few of soporificity, which I could not bear. Another 20 pages in length, and I would have called it quits.I also mentioned (above) that this book is kind of incomplete, and I don’t mean that in a way that should suggest I expect more exhaustiveness in the book’s treatment. There were a number of items that were basic but that went unmentioned in the book, such as the nature of storytelling in the time of Beowulf, what it meant, why oral tradition was important, etc. Basic tidbits that, if you knew nothing about the subject, you should probably know in a once-over book on the Anglo-Saxon Age. The treatment of Beowulf was pathetically cursory. Even some of the items of particular interest and importance, did not get emphasis. Blair simply drops the names, like Sutton Hoo. When I was at the British Museum in London, they appropriately brought attention to this very interesting archeological dig where the Sutton Hoo were discovered, and noted, in very basic and introductory fashion, why this little mystery (and further research) is so important to understanding Anglo-Saxon times.About the biggest disappointment in the text, for me, personally, was that the typical novelty brought to the VSI texts was absent. The series makes these texts worth reading (for those of us who have taught the subject, or read it moderately, even) and owning by entailing some sort of novelty in their construction (see my other reviews of the VSI series). This lack of novelty, which one expects from the series, came as a disappointment that made the lack of quality narrative particularly annoying.

Very clear and understandable summary of a very confusing age. Can't recommend it highly enough.

A fine, brief introduction to the period. 75 pages, plus an intro and recommended reading list. Devoured the book in a couple of hours. Readable and engaging. A good balance of text and illustrations/photographs.Major criticism:- The text is from *1984*, so the book can be considered quite dated. Thus it doesn't take into account the latest discoveries and scholarship in DNA mapping, linguistics, archaeology, literature, history, art and culture.Minor criticisms:- The recommended reading list has been updated somewhat as compared to the age of the main text, but it still contains recommendations which I believe have been superseded.- I feel the book spent a little too long on the origins of the English and the early kingdoms and not quite enough on the House of Wessex and the Viking invasions. These latter parts somehow seemed a little compact and a considerable swathe of history felt slightly rushed through compared to the treatment of the early EnglishOverall, though, a decent read and a worthwhile purchase. I look forward to now reading the book on the Vikings from the same series (2005, 133 p.).

This is an amazing little book - a great surprise. As a bit of an amateur student of history I wanted to learn more about the Anglo-Saxons and what their society was really like. This brief book did the job perfectly - the writing is succinct, engaging and to the point, and the author provides both facts and some interpretation. I was also pleased the author took a pragmatic approach to the period - frankly observing the desolation of England after the Roman Empire (no happy "transformation" here) while later going on to say how the Anglo-Saxons eventually developed their own very effective systems of administration and laid the foundations of England today in the process (so definitely not an unremittingly bleak "Dark Age" either). This is a fascinating time of upheaval succinctly explored in this well written and very interesting book. Highly recommended to someone wanting to understand the Anglo-Saxons on a general basis.

I was expecting this book to be an introduction to the topic and it's not.If you have no knowledge of the subject then it is very hard to follow.I suggest reading something slightly more basic if, like me, you had no knowledge.The purchase hasn't been completely wasted as my mum is happily reading it.It can be quite a heavy read, as I said, for someone who has little knowledge of the subject.

Consisting as it does of little more than a complicated succession of small kings and kingdoms, the Anglo Saxon age is a difficult thing to introduce briefly. This book manages to do it without sending the reader into a coma and even adds a dash of interest to the final years of the story. Where the book earns its stars, though, is in avoiding conjecture and supposition and making clear what is and isn't known.

A short introduction can't go into great detail because of its very nature so it can't have a lot of insight or diversions. This one though is a bit dry and dull. It is very much this follows that follows this. For someone who needs a whistle stop tour very quickly it might just be a catch up but for someone like me needing a refresher and a place to start further reading it was a bit dull and worthy.