Book excerpt: This work explores the mysterious centuries between the Romans and the Norman Conquest of 1066. In this revised edition Michael Wood conjures some of the most famous names in British History, such as Queen Boadicea, leader of a terrible war of resistance against the Romans, and King Arthur, the once and future king for whose riddles Wood proposes a surprising solution. It also covers the Saxon, Viking and Norman kings who laid the political foundations of England - Offa of Mercia, Alfred The Great, Athelstan, and William the Conquerer. The book reflects historical, textual and archaeological research, which overturns the Dark Ages as a shadowy and brutal era.