Chris West has been a stamp collector for many years. His collection includes some of the first postage stamps that were issued in Britain. West has written "A History of Britain in Thirty-Six Postage Stamps." He selected particular stamps that seemed to speak to him about the history of the particular time periods in when each one was printed.
His meditations on the significance of these stamps are a delight to read. West is English and the history that he reveals here was already mostly familiar to him. His next project is proving to be more of a challenge. West is now working on a history of the United States as told through our postage. As he conducts his research for this next book West is learning a lot about our country.