- With insight, humor and fascinating detail, Robert Lacey brings brilliantly to life the stories that made England. From Ethelred the Unready to Richard the Lionheart, the Venerable Bede to Piers the Ploughman, this is, quite simply, history as history should be told.- Lacey's bestseller "The Year 1000 has netted 120,000 copies in hardcover and paperback combined.- In the bestselling tradition of "How the Irish Saved Civilization, this is popular, accessible, bite-sized history at its best.