From the inside flap:
"A labour of love, a working guideebook, planned with meticulous care."

--From the Foreward by Lord Norwich

More Americans visit Brityian than any other place in Europe. Yet often they are overwhelmed by rthe encounter. There is so much history in Britain, there are so many layers, that one gets confuesd. Here at last is a guide to England and Wales that sorts it all out.

Wherevere you are, you can discover the past of the place era by era. (The emphasis is on the surviving and visitable sites-- history you can see and stand on. You aren't distracted by places that don't exist anymore.)
Whereever you are, you can learn what's worth seeing there. (The finest sites are given stars.)
Whatever you favorite historical period-- be it Anlgo-Saxon or Medieval, Tudor or Victorian-- you can bone upon it in a rich and fascinating narrative... then let the cross-references send you to the best sites for that period, region by region, town by town.
Use this guide to understand the place where you happen to find yourself. Or use it to plan an extraoridinarily intersting kind of trip-- tour Britain according to a historical threme. Sites are located with mileages, road numbers, and map coordinates. And there is a Best of Britain listing of the choicest places-- castles, abbeys, cathedrals, special museums, gardens, and much more. (How many have you visited? Which ones have you missed?)

This unique, authoritative guide was ten years in the making. Some tourists may find it beyond their needs. But discerning travellers will receive it as a godsend.

Philip A. Crowl has taught history at Princeton, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, Swarthmore, and the University of Nebraska, where he was department chairman. He was also chairman of the department of strategy at the Naval War College, and has been professor emeritus since 1980. The author or co-author of three military histories, he has served on advisory boards for the National Archives, the Harry S. Truman Library Institute, and the National Historical Publications Commission.

John Julius Norwich, who wrote the Forward, is a British historian. Lord Norwich's History of Venice was published in the United States in 1982 and was widely praised.