His passionate love for his wife, Sarah Churchill, ran like a golden thread of romance through Marlborough's stormy career. On the eve of battle, and in the first flush of victory, he must first and last write her; and he would more willingly meet 20,000 Frenchmen than his wife's displeasure! Indeed Sarah seems to have waged her own battles very successfully with her tongue, and also to have had her own diplomatic triumphs. -from Chapter XI With a verve and liveliness worthy of a novelist, American writer MARY PLATT PARMELE (1843-1911) put her unique stamp on world history with her series of clever, concise histories, condensed tales of the world's great nations that encompassed the essential facts necessary for appreciating the state of the world as she saw it. With this book, first published in 1895 and updated in 1900, she sketches the extraordinary story of the British Isles. From Boadicea and the Roman invasion to the Irish famine, the Great Exhibition, and the laying of the transatlantic telegraph cable, this is an exciting and inspiring reminder of the history of the peoples who share with Americans a language, an industrious spirit, and a love of freedom and democracy. OF INTEREST TO: readers of European and classical history Parmele's books available from Cosimo Classics include: * The Evolution of an Empire: A Brief Historical Sketch of France * The Evolution of an Empire: A Brief Historical Sketch of the United States * A Short History of France * A Short History of Germany * A Short History of Spain * A Short History of Rome and Italy