Impressive in every sense, this hugely ambitious & assured book takes as its subject the entire history of the British Isles from the end of the last Ice Age & their physical emergence as islands all the way down to the Norman Conquest. Barry Cunliffe's magisterial narrative is abetted by correspondingly high production values, & whilst complex ideas are explained with admirable clarity, making the book an ideal introduction to Britain's prehistory & early history, there would be plenty here for the most seasoned professional to enjoy & profit from. Cunliffe kicks off with an examination of the ways in which our ancestors have conceived the distant past, from medieval myths to the dawn of modern archaeology. The remainder of the book is roughly chronological in structure. Prominent themes include the 'problem of origins', where Cunliffe's own research has been of such significance (the Celtic from the west hypothesis is synthesised here with concision & flair), & the importance of communication, connectivity & cultural transmission is emphasised throughout, with the Channel, the Atlantic & the North Sea seen as highways linking Britain & Ireland to the continent & building up an ongoing narrative which is anything but narrowly insular.