Winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, 1962.
The men and women who sit in the House of Commons shape the way we lead our lives. But how many of us could ever explain the workings of this complicated and mysterious institution?
In this comprehensive and fascinating study, politician and historian Robert Rhodes James explains the strange traditions, complicated formalities and forceful personalities that have shaped the House of Commons throughout history, and that continue to shape it today.
Authoritative, clear and always good-humoured, An Introduction to the House of Commons is a truly absorbing account of parliamentary life and process.

Sir Robert Rhodes James (1933-1999) was a British historian, biographer and Member of Parliament. He published his first book - a biography of Lord Randolph Churchill - in 1959 and went on to write many other highly acclaimed biographies of political and royal figures. His subjects included King George VI, Anthony Eden, Prince Albert, Winston Churchill and Lord Rosebery, the last of which won him the Royal Society's Literary Award. His second book, An Introduction to the House of Commons, won the 1962 John Llewelyn Rhys Prize.