A book that is very well written and has a wealth of information is Schama's new History of Britain Part 2. This covers the wars from the ECW to the American Revolution. Schama is an excellent narrative writer with a flair for finding the obscure fact. For instance, during the ECW, there was an edict proclaiming that people save their urine for a year to help with the production of gunpowder. He also makes note of the fact that this was not as bad as using corpses for the same purpose (also apparently done). I've only read 1/4 of this fascinating book so far, but it is very good and highly recommended.