In this enjoyable read David A. Pretty gives us 9000 years
of history in just 156 pages and therefore, without criticism, one must note
that this is a selective history of Anglesey.
It is also a very “traditional” selection, with many decades
whizzing past during which the only comment is about who was elected MP. Industry gets a mention as does education,
but mainly in terms of who was in charge rather than giving a sense of the “lived”
experience of the ordinary Anglesey people.
There are notes on the changing dynamics of the religious
life of the island, from the stronghold of the druids to a bastion of Methodism
and now a seemingly listless present.
But it is the ability to give a narrative arc across the
centuries which is the strength of this volume.
That very long term trends have been determinative in the make up of
island life is drawn out in a way that much “modern” historical writing with
its micro focus fails to do.
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