This is a detailed political review of the three centuries of modern British history from the Glorious Revolution to Margaret Thatcher. The vast mass of scholarly research that continues to appear on these years has made an up-to-date study of this sort -- which combines synthesis and analysis in a single account -- a timely undertaking. This is an avowedly political history, with as much economic and social content as is needed to understand the context in which Britain's political life evolved.