author
John Richard Green
1837–1883
Best known for reshaping English history around ordinary people rather than just kings and battles, this Victorian historian wrote with unusual energy and range. His most famous book, A Short History of the English People, helped make history feel vivid and accessible to a wide audience.
9 Audiobooks
History of the English People, Volume I Early England, 449-1071; Foreign Kings, 1071-1204; The Charter, 1204-1216
by John Richard Green
History of the English People, Volume IV
by John Richard Green
History of the English People, Index
by John Richard Green
History of the English People, Volume VI Puritan England, 1642-1660; The Revolution, 1660-1683
by John Richard Green
History of the English People, Volume VII The Revolution, 1683-1760; Modern England, 1760-1767
by John Richard Green
History of the English People, Volume VIII Modern England, 1760-1815
by John Richard Green
History of the English People, Volume II The Charter, 1216-1307; The Parliament, 1307-1400
by John Richard Green
History of the English People, Volume III The Parliament, 1399-1461; The Monarchy 1461-1540
by John Richard Green
History of the English People, Volume V Puritan England, 1603-1660
by John Richard Green
About the author
Born in Oxford in 1837, he was educated at Magdalen College School and Jesus College, Oxford, and was first ordained in the Church of England. Early in his career he served in Stepney, in East London, where close contact with everyday urban life helped shape his interest in social history as well as politics and reform.
He is remembered chiefly as an English historian whose A Short History of the English People became a landmark work. Rather than treating history mainly as the story of rulers and wars, he gave central place to national life, institutions, religion, and the experiences of ordinary people. He later expanded this approach in larger historical works, including A History of the English People and The Making of England.
His health was poor for years, and he died in 1883 at the age of 45. Even so, his work left a lasting mark on popular and scholarly writing about England, and his clear, lively style helped bring history to readers far beyond the university world.