This Little World
A New History of Tudor and Stuart England
Will be published approx. on 28. May 2026
Book
Hardback
448 pages
978-1-5266-6965-0 (ISBN)
Description
'A perspective-altering take on a world we usually think of in far more domestic terms. A ground-breaking masterwork' WILLIAM DALRYMPLE
'Triumphant . . . Cinematic . . . No one who reads this book will ever see Tudor and Stuart history in the same light again' JOHN GUY, LITERARY REVIEW
'Many books claim to be a new way of looking at history, but this book truly is' FINANCIAL TIMES
The prize-winning author uncovers the revelatory global story of Tudor and Stuart England - told through the merchants, migrants, sailors, travellers and spies who helped forge a nation.
The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries forged a powerful image of England - Shakespeare's 'scepter'd isle', proud and apart, defined by royal spectacle and myth. But beneath this familiar narrative of ruffs and gowns, kings and queens, lies a more complex and connected reality.
England at this time was far from insular. Travelling in and out of the country were Venetian glassmakers with English wives, African innkeepers and Native American envoys. There were people like the Flemish artist Levina Teerlinc, probably the only painter to be employed by four English monarchs. There was William Adams, a Kentish navigator who became Japan's first English samurai. And there was Elizabeth Key, daughter of an enslaved mother in the colony in Virginia, who battled in the courts for herself and her son.
Drawing on extensive archival research, attentive to the textures of daily life, yet alive to the sweep of history, This Little World offers a startlingly new, globally resonant vision of England's past and what it meant to be English. It is a story of a nation in the making - on the cusp of empire - told through the traces of those often written out of it. In reframing England's story within a wider world, it challenges us to rethink some of our most fundamental ideas: about nationhood, about identity, and above all, about belonging.
'Triumphant . . . Cinematic . . . No one who reads this book will ever see Tudor and Stuart history in the same light again' JOHN GUY, LITERARY REVIEW
'Many books claim to be a new way of looking at history, but this book truly is' FINANCIAL TIMES
The prize-winning author uncovers the revelatory global story of Tudor and Stuart England - told through the merchants, migrants, sailors, travellers and spies who helped forge a nation.
The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries forged a powerful image of England - Shakespeare's 'scepter'd isle', proud and apart, defined by royal spectacle and myth. But beneath this familiar narrative of ruffs and gowns, kings and queens, lies a more complex and connected reality.
England at this time was far from insular. Travelling in and out of the country were Venetian glassmakers with English wives, African innkeepers and Native American envoys. There were people like the Flemish artist Levina Teerlinc, probably the only painter to be employed by four English monarchs. There was William Adams, a Kentish navigator who became Japan's first English samurai. And there was Elizabeth Key, daughter of an enslaved mother in the colony in Virginia, who battled in the courts for herself and her son.
Drawing on extensive archival research, attentive to the textures of daily life, yet alive to the sweep of history, This Little World offers a startlingly new, globally resonant vision of England's past and what it meant to be English. It is a story of a nation in the making - on the cusp of empire - told through the traces of those often written out of it. In reframing England's story within a wider world, it challenges us to rethink some of our most fundamental ideas: about nationhood, about identity, and above all, about belonging.
Reviews / Votes
Many books claim to be a new way of looking at history, but this book truly is, as Das draws on extensive archival research to enrich and complicate the picture by telling the stories of those who lived through it -- Breeze Barrington * Financial TImes * Triumphant . . . Nandini Das has a cinematic writing style in which zoom shots and closeups coexist. She allows her characters to speak for themselves, reassessing their beliefs from multiple vantage points. The reader is never less than transfixed by her breadth of expertise, storytelling skills and commingling of historical and literary evidence . . . No one who reads this book will ever see Tudor and Stuart history in the same light again -- John Guy * Literary Review * A traveller's guide to Tudor England . . . Thoughtful and thorough . . . Illustrates how questions of nationality, identity and belonging became ever more pressing in an increasingly interconnected world -- Katherine Harvey * The Times * An elaborate and elegant polyphony of voices . . . Das's interpretations at times rise to the transcendent . . . It is salutary to be reminded that rigorous scholarly history can also be stylish and lyrical -- Peter Marshall * History Today * Tells the story of Britain through people often left out of the accounts: the migrants, merchants, pilgrims and exiles -- Martin Chilton * Independent, Books of the Month * A page-turning history of how a nation was defined by the people it welcomed or persecuted. Tudor and Stuart England through the eyes of incomers and exiles - and beautifully written -- PHILIPPA GREGORY, author of Normal Women A wonderful gallery of precisely drawn yet constantly surprising Tudor and Stuart portraits, like an album of perfect Hilliard miniatures that dazzle us with their cosmopolitan attitudes and globalised lives. Taking us from English Jesuits in Goa to Italian renaissance scholars in Oxford via an English eunuch in Ottoman Constantinople and a Kentish Samurai in seventeenth-century Edo, this is a perspective-altering take on a world we usually think of in far more domestic and provincial terms. Beautifully written and impeccably researched, Nandini Das has written another ground-breaking masterwork -- WILLIAM DALRYMPLE, author of The Golden Road and The Anarchy A beautifully constructed and thought-provoking book that provides a fresh, vibrant perspective on the Tudor and Stuart age. As well as telling the wider story of immigration and exploration, of the forging of national identity, it brings to light an exquisitely drawn cast of characters - artists, merchants, musicians and more - whose lives intersected with the 'scepter'd isle' of Shakespeare -- TRACY BORMAN, author of The Stolen Crown Das's history feels as it thinks. Her book separates itself from histories of the period by seeing into the past as a prism for us to understand our present and thereby shape our future -- FRED D'AGUIAR, author of The Longest Memory In this revelatory book, Nandini Das opens up a glimmering vision of a Tudor and Stuart England we hardly know, yet which immediately feels essential -- ALEX VON TUNZELMANN, author of Fallen Idols A stunning and evocative book. It will make you see Tudor and Stuart England as never before, and question long-held ideas of statehood, identity and belonging. This is how history should be written -- KAVITA PURI, author of Partition Voices Gripping, fascinating, full of detail and new research, this brings the Tudor and Stuart world to vivid life; just brilliant -- KATE WILLIAMS, author of The Royal Palaces This Little World is a compelling new survey of one of the most momentous periods in British history. She sets the reign of the Tudors and Stuarts in a truly global context, bringing a startlingly fresh perspective on the what at first glance seems a well-trodden path of historical study, with a combination of meticulous scholarship and a necessary revaluation of familiar sources, we are given a new way of understanding a critical period in history of these islands -- RICHARD OVENDEN, author of Burning the Books This Little World is the real thing: an urgent, compelling, and renewing history of Tudor and Stuart Britain which demands to be read. It is beautifully written and characterised by such empathy and humanity that everyone will enjoy it -- TOBY GREEN, author of A FISTFUL OF SHELLS It is high time for this arresting new history of England -- Caroline Sanderson * Bookseller *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 249 mm
Width: 167 mm
Thickness: 42 mm
Weight
714 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5266-6965-0 (9781526669650)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
05/2026
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
€21.49
Available for download
Person
Nandini Das is Professor of Early Modern English Literature and Culture and Fellow of Exeter College at the University of Oxford. Her work uncovers the entangled histories of literature, travel and cross-cultural encounter in the early modern world. Her most recent book, Courting India: England, Mughal India and the Origins of Empire, was longlisted for the Cundill Prize, shortlisted for the Duff Cooper and Wolfson History Prizes, and awarded the British Academy Book Prize. It was also named a Book of the Year by the Spectator, Prospect and History Today. A BBC New Generation Thinker, she writes and presents widely for radio and television.