Book learning

Seeing as I was 16 when the referendum for Welsh devolution got the YES vote, I obviously had better things to do with my time than take any notice or interest in it. Like become obsessed with The Beatles and form a short lived band with my friend Charlene. So I have arrived at this play with a very patchy knowledge of the whole thing.

So I have started studying from scratch, looking back at the whole history of Welsh politics from Edward I onwards. And I have also started getting a bit cross with the fact that I was never taught anything about this before in school or otherwise. Well, we did learn about Margam Park at school, but I don't think that would give anyone an insight into the overall history of one's country.

Anyway, I have found two books that I would like to recommend as an interesting start to the study of Welsh politics....

Modern Wales by K.O. Morgan.

Bought as a jokey Christmas present by my friend Jamie, it stayed on my bookshelf unlooked at for years. But it has some interesting essays on the birth of Liberalism and self-governance movements like Cymru Fydd and generally the history of independence campaigns, while remaining unsentimental about Wales' place in the UK and the World.

Scotland and Wales: Nations Again? Edited by Bridget Taylor and Katarina Thompson

One of very few books I have found that deal exclusively with the 1997 referendum. Its comparisons of the Welsh and Scottish campaigns for devolution are invaluable and it details the fascinating sociologial and political shifts between the 1997 and 1979 referendums. And it has a foreword by Ron Davies which is brilliant if you're directing a play about a fictional First Minister.

Those are my favourites so far....