From earliest times, the people of Dorset participated in the events which have shaped England's history. The violent and bloody demise of the native defenders of Maiden Castle, overwhelmed by Roman Legionaries in the 1st century AD, was one of the earliest of these episodes. Later conflicts included the violence of the Civil War years and the struggles for social reform, of which the transportation of the Tolpuddle martyrs is perhaps the best known. With a wealth of fascinating detail, this stimulating and highly readable account of Dorset's history traces the growth and decline of local communities, the concerns and lives of those who made a living from the land and from the sea, and the development of the county's industry, agriculture and commerce which continues to the present day....