The Copybook: Readings in history and literature

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Photo by NASA/Joshua Stevens, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Attribution only.

Fairest Isle by D. H. Montgomery

American historian D. H. Montgomery saw Britain’s ‘isolation’ as the very thing that has made her people more cosmopolitan, and her government more liberal.

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1

The Lost Colony of Roanoke by D. H. Montgomery

In 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh’s first attempt to found an English colony in the New World failed, but two years later he was keen to try again.

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2

From Wikimedia Commons.

The Spanish Armada by D. H. Montgomery

At the height of the Inquisition, King Philip II of Spain sent a glorious fleet against England to bring the nation back to his Church.

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3

By Martin M. Lawrence (1808-1859), via the Library of Congress. Licence: No known restrictions.

John Brown of Osawatomie by D. H. Montgomery

Shortly before the American Civil War, an attack by pro-slavery militants on the city of Lawrence prompted John Brown to try to clean up Kansas.

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4

The Battle of Gettysburg by D. H. Montgomery

Two years into the American Civil War, the Union army responded to a dispiriting defeat at Chancellorsville with a decisive and historic victory at Gettysburg.

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5

The Battle of Lewes by D. H. Montgomery

The Battle of Lewes in 1263 took place just a few miles from the Battle of Hastings two centuries before it, and was arguably as important.

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6

The Provisions of Oxford by D. H. Montgomery

When King Henry III’s barons turned up to his council wearing full armour, he realised he had to mend his ways.

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