This book is a delightful history of England. It is a book for all ages. As an adult I have enjoyed reading the book for pure pleasure. My two teenage daughters have used this book numerous times for school projects, especially for their history and compostion classes. I never appreciated Charles Dickens as such a charming writer until I read this book, so after reading this, as an adult, I went back to his most familiar books and found that I still enjoyed this one best! It is written like he is an oral storyteller and is so engrossing as to make it difficult to put down. I originally thought due to the title that I would just read it aloud to my girls but I found when they had fallen asleep I couldnt stop and have since read this book at least three times and bought a used copy for all my nieces and nephews. His descriptions of the wars with the thousands of dead contrast sharply with the clean wars of today. Fields with thousands lying slaughtered is incomprehensible. Life was so cheap then at least as described by Dickens. This is such an engrossing history but with so much strong opinion it certainly wouldnt pass muster in todays historical circles which is part of why it is so fun and dare I say naughty to read. One of the most enjoyable books I have ever read!