THE RISE AND FALL OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE

Inspired by an earlier masterpiece of needlework that pictured aspects of a major turning point in history, the Battle of Hastings in 1066 that launched the Norman Conquest of Britain, Kluger here attempts to chronicle, on a somewhat smaller scale than the Bayeux Tapestry, a somewhat larger subject – the rest of the entire history of the British Isles.  Highlights include images and symbols memorializing King Arthur, Magna Carta, Robin Hood, the War of the Roses, Henry VIII, the defeat of the Spanish Armada, Queen Elizabeth I, the American Revolution, Queen Victoria’s empire (she’s sitting on it), the First and Second World Wars, a Shakespearean marquee, a Dickens novel, the Beatles in concert, and PM Margaret Thatcher emerging from 10 Downing Street.  Plus, from the Brits’ “finest hour,” Churchill’s plucky V-for-Victory sign and a Spitfire wing invoking the air battle that saved England.  All this encircles a medallion interpreting the British Royal Arms as shown on the Order of the Knights of the Garter.