It is important to understand Green’s work as a product of its time. The book’s moral tone, belief in progress, and assumption of an “English mission” reflect the optimistic liberalism of Victorian Britain. Green wrote at a time when British society — at least for the middle classes — seemed on an upward trajectory of political reform,

Immediate popularity The book was a phenomenal success. It sold thousands of copies almost immediately upon release, ran into numerous editions, and was translated into multiple languages. For the Victorian middle classes hungry for knowledge of their national past — yet not inclined to plough through multi-volume academic histories — Green’

A Short History of the English People is divided into eight major books or sections, each covering a significant epoch in English history. These include: The English Kingdoms (449–1071) – tracing the Anglo-Saxon settlement, conversion to Christianity, the rise of Wessex, and finally the Norman Conquest. The English Towns (1071–1204)

When Green published A Short History of the English People in 1874, it was revolutionary for several reasons: Focus on people over monarchs and wars: Green explicitly stated that he aimed to tell the story of the English people, not merely of English kings. In his introduction, he wrote that the history of a nation was more than “a mere rec