How Great Britain was born - from the restoration to the Great Exhibition.In 1660 England emerged from the devastations of the Civil Wars and restored the king, Charles II, to the throne. Over the next 190 years Britain would establish itself as the leading nation in the world _ the centre of burgeoning Empire, at the forefront of the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. However, radical change also brought with it anxiety and violence. America is lost in the War of Independence and calls for revolution at home are never far from the surface of everyday life. In this scintillating overview of the era in which Britain changed the world, and how that nation was transformed as a result. William Gibson also looks at the impact of this transformation had upon the ordinary men and women.