In the U.S. 2000 Census, more than 36 million Americans reported British ancestry. And in the 2006 American community survey 12 percent of the total U.S. population claimed Irish blood - the second largest self-reporting group. Factor in the abiding interest in the legacies of these islands - from landscapes to literature, from rock bands to the intrigue of royalty - and the draw of this beautifully illustrated book becomes apparent.

Robin Currie co-authored National Geographic's Concise History of the World and has edited National Geographic Traveler guides on New York, Hawaii, South Africa, and Greece. His writing has been published by the Smithsonian, McGraw-Hill, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and America Online, where he was senior editor of the AOL homepage. His most recent book, The Letter and the Scroll: What Archaeology Tells Us About the Bible, co-authored with Stephen Hyslop, was published by National Geographic in 2009. He hails from Belfast, Ireland, and now makes his home in Washington, DC.

• Hardcover
• 352 pages; 210 colour photographs and 10 maps
• 9 1/8" x 10 7/8"
• © 2010