The Return of History

Alfred the Great by Justin Pollard saw me return to the history section after a long gap since my first foray into that area. Alfred the Great is the only English monarch to have that epithet and it's richly deserved for someone who more than anyone else can be designated as the architect of England and the first great statesman of our country. It's an entertaining book, well told, and a popular account of a person where details are inevitably quite sketchy given the timespan and how much has been lost, as well as the paucity of authentic material of proven provenance.