Britain's Europe

Entertaining and cogently argued... an eloquent argument

Tony Barber, Financial Times

A dazzling perspective on the current EU referendum debate

Prospect Magazine

Like all truly stimulating and original works, this is a book worth reading even if one ultimately disagrees with the author's conclusions, or if the time is not yet ripe for their realisation

Robert Gerwarth, Irish Times

Entertaining

Dominic Sandbrook, The Times

With supreme confidence, Simms distils 1,000 years of history into a simple constant: Britain's role has always been to prevent the domination of the Continent by a single power...Britain, in other words, has always been part of Europe. To deny that fact is to ignore the past.

Gerard Degroot, The Times

In his spirited new book, "Britain's Europe", Brendan Simms, a historian at Cambridge University, argues that the whole notion of an island story is wrong. Britain's history, he says, is above all about continental Europe...Mr Simms makes a powerful case.

The Economist

His book aims to demonstrate that the history of the British isles has never been an isolated one, and that "our island story" has always, in ­reality, been continental.

Mark Mazower, New Statesman

A fascinating, engaging book, which exemplifies how a balanced and mature long-term historical perspective might have informed present-day political policy

Joad Raymond, BBC History Magazine

Wide-ranging and thoughtful... a timely and important study that places Brexit and the difficulties of the EU in an illuminating historical context.

PD Smith, Guardian