How was Great Britain made? And what does it mean to be British? In this prize-winning book, Linda Colley combines imperial, political, social, and cultural history to analyze the evolution of Britishness, evoking its enduring tensions as well as its powerful characteristics. Hailed at its publication as “the most dazzling and comprehensive study of a national identity yet to appear” (Tom Nairn), Britons is now reissued with a new Preface by the author commenting on the book’s genesis and critical reception and on recent political developments.

“A sweeping survey, . . . evocatively illustrated and engagingly written.”—Harriet Ritvo, New York Times Book Review

“Dashingly written and firmly unsentimental.”—Keith Thomas, New York Review of Books

“Extremely learned and penetrating . . . [and] most entertaining.”—Conor Cruise O’Brien, New Republic

“Challenging, fascinating, enormously well informed.”—John Barrell, London Review of Books

“[Colley] has a capacity for historical generalizations that puts her into the front rank among her contemporaries.”—E. P. Thompson, Dissent

“Absolutely magnificent.”—Jeffrey Hart, National Review

Born in Britain, Linda Colley has taught and written on history and current events on both sides of the Atlantic. Previously at Cambridge, Yale, and the London School of Economics, she is now Shelby M.C. Davis 1958 Professor of History at Princeton University.