We all know our Welsh history, don't we? We all know who the good guys and the bad guys were, at home and abroad. Our heroes were virile and virtuous: brave on the battlefields, inspirational leaders of men, political pioneers and general all-round good blokes. Weren't they? This book asks us to think again about some of the great (and not so great) historical figures we thought we knew - and reminds us that they weren't all guys either! It asks us to reconsider the achievements of saints and soldiers, statesmen and scientists, and scholars and athletes. People like Gerald of Wales, Kathryn of Berain, Oliver Cromwell, Robert Owen and George Thomas, not to mention women teachers, miners and rugby players. Like the previous book in this series, A New History of Wales (Gomer 2011), Heroes and Villains in Welsh History is the result of a collaboration between the Western Mail and a group of twenty-two historians who form part of History Research Wales. It has been edited by H. V. Bowen, Professor of Modern History at Swansea University
