This is a controversial and thought-provoking work, resulting from a lifetime of detailed research, which challenges the very idea of 'England' and what it means to be English. Dr. Jones has examined the origins of the sense of English identity that persists today and in this book reveals a startling new perspective on how it came about. Dr. Jones's scholarly investigations reveal that during the reign of Henry VIII a false view of the English past was created in order to promote England as a sovereign and independent nation state. And it is this view of England's past that became so embedded in the nation's collective memory that it became one of the most powerful influences at work on English outlook and behaviour from then until now. With the loss of empire and concern over Europe, England is in search of a new role. This study provides the broad historical perspective within which England could recover its true historical identity, with its associated beliefs and values, as the new millennium arrives.