The English: A Portrait of a People
 

The English: A Portrait of a People

by Jeremy Paxman

What is it about the English? Not the British overall, not the Scots, not the Irish or the Welsh, but the English. Why do they seem so unsure of who they are? As Jeremy Paxman remarks in his preface to The English, being English "used to be so easy". Now, with the Empire gone, with Wales and Scotland moving into more independent postures, with the troubling specter of a united Europe (and... (read more)

Top tags: englandculturenon-fictionnonfictionhistory (all tags)

 

Member Reviews

  • terrym
    • Rated 3 stars

    Whilst I enjoyed the book, I'm not sure I saw myself in it all that much. Lots of good stuff on the British v the English thing, on class and the countryside, a nice essay on the weather and house-buying/apartment-renting, but you're left wondering if the PaxMan cares for the English all that much. He has little time for the country's detractors, those that think England's going to the dogs and life was so much better in the good old days, before Europe, before immigration, before television etc etc, but as he notes himself the English, in his book, are them, not us. Not sure he wants to identify that closely with them. Not sure I do too.

    terrym wrote this review Saturday, November 24 2007. ( reply | permalink )
© 2008 Tastemakers, Inc. | Portions of Shelfari.com are Copyright © 1996-2008 Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Copyright Policy