This book is a must for those readers interested in the history of the British Monarchy. The authors and editors have masterly created both an historical perspective of the institution as well as a personal viewpoint which is both critical and sentimental. Some may be turned off by the length of this book, but once you begin reading, you'll wonder where the time goes. And the wonderful photographs and illustrations bring their words to life.

Nice little pieces on the areas Britain has affected but now leaves alone - nearly 4 pages on Australia, 1 each on Canada and New Zealand. Also helpful to find those weird, typically British obsessions: pigeon-fancying, seaside holidays and Tractarianism (go look them up). The kind of book you go to to look up one topic and find yourself reading for an hour. Failed to score 5 stars because it failed to record biographies on influential British sportsmen.

Now in a newly revised and expanded edition, The Oxford Companion To British History is a dictionary-style, 1056-page resource reference which is filled from cover to cover with names, places, terms, and events comprising the history of Great Britain and organized alphabetically for easy lookup. Compiled and edited by John Cannon (formerly the Chair of Modern History at Newcastle-upon-Tyne until 1992) and brimming with extensive facts and details, The Oxford Companion To British History is a top-notch reference which is enhanced with the inclusion of 12 maps, and would prove to be an invaluable cornerstone for any academic library's British History collection.

The Oxford Companion to British History by John Ashton Cannon(Editor) is brilliant in its outlay and is a must for anyone remotely interested in British history. For instance, who is John Gerard and what did he do to warrant a place in The Oxford Companion to British History by John Ashton Cannon(Editor) . The book is cataloged alphabetically and this makes it very easy to use; It would have been a nightmare if the person in charge had divided it into time periods since only die hard fans or connesaurs of British history would know all the time periods The maps in the end of book are very clear and royal lineage is very well presented. The book also has a well developed index that can easily be used even by a novice. The font in book chosen in the book is very pleasing to the eye and makes the book a pleasure to read/use as tool in realm of British History.

The Kings and Queens of Britain is a well written basic reference for the British monarchy, with biographies, genealogical charts and maps. The biographies of the Queen consorts are a welcome addition. Although I like this book, I believe that The Mammoth Book of Brittish Kings and Queens by Mike Ashley covers the subject matter in much more depth, although he does not include biographies of the Queen consorts. Ashley's book is also available from Amazon.