Great Britain

On a summer's day in 1215 a beleaguered English monarch met a group of disgruntled barons in a meadow by the river Thames named Runnymede. Beset by foreign crisis and domestic rebellion, King John was fast running out of options. On 15 June he reluctantly agreed to fix his regal seal to a document that would change the world.

In the 1880s, control over northeastern Africa was a political minefield into which Prime Minister Gladstone did not want to step—until his emissary Charles Gordon was besieged in Khartoum, and the city became the focal point for war. It was the height of European colonialism. Injustices were administered, bloody battles fought, and civilians caught in the crossfire. Among the British officers were figures who would later adopt starring roles in the First World War, such as Egyptian Army sapper Captain Herbert Kitchener.

Arguing that global communications have fragmented national cultures and that multiculturalism, intended to reduce social frictions, is today reinforcing them, Sacks argues for a new approach to national identity, making the case for "integrated diversity" within a framework of shared political values. Britain, he argues, will have to construct a national narrative as a basis for identity, reinvigorate the concept of the common good, and identify shared interests among currently conflicting groups.

Based on new research conducted across Europe and in the United States, The Celts reveals when and how we came to call much of Europe "Celtic," why this idea mattered in the past, and why it still matters today, as the tide of nationalism is once again on the rise.

Wales, um 1300. Überall im Land werden Burgen gebaut und Befestigungsanlagen instandgesetzt. Es ist ein goldenes Zeitalter für Steinmetze, und Roisins Vater zählt zu den Besten seines Fachs. Als er verunglückt und nicht mehr arbeiten kann, steht die Existenz der ganzen Familie auf dem Spiel. Roisins Bruder Edward fehlt das Geschick seines Vaters, doch er weiß, dass Roisin nachts heimlich Skulpturen angefertigt hat, die an Schönheit nicht zu übertreffen sind, und gibt sie als seine aus.