What story should Britain tell about itself?

In recent years it has become fashionable to tell a certain kind of story about Britain. At its least offensive, this story emphasises the worst aspects of our nation's past while neglecting the best. At its most damaging, it denies or distorts the very fabric of Britain's collective inheritance.

Our Islands' Story tells an altogether more honest, complex and hopeful story about Britain. In this engaging and hugely erudite collaboration between two leading thinkers of Britain's historical legacy, Nigel Biggar and Robert Tombs draw on the full depth of our national experience to offer a powerful antidote to contemporary cynicism, and mount a vital self-defence.

Though not without fault, they argue, Britain is what we have - the best that generations of people have managed to create. Not perfect, but real, unique, precious and worth defending.