This is the first book to offer both a full understanding of the importance of "British" history, while also providing the tools that allow a critical assessment of its achievements. The New British History introduces the new perspectives opened up by the adoption of a truly British approach to historiography--one that encompasses on equal terms the interacting histories of Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England--from the time of Thomas Cromwell in the 1530s to the Act of Union in 1707. The core of the book consists of a series of chronological essays, supplemented by a detailed historiographical and conceptual introduction. The essays consider whether the "British" approach can be extended to social and economic history, examine concepts of British and national identity, and debate whether the new approach has brought with it loss as well as gain.