Both of these books by James Hawes cover several thousand years of history in about 230-270 pages, so they do live up to the title. There are probably shorter pocket histories out there, but these will give you a pretty clear-eyed overview of the two countries. I liked The Shortest History of England enough that I got the German one, but found it less engaging. I think it might be more attributable to me, as I’m way more interested in England and tend to founder […]