- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (30 Sep 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140267239
- ISBN-13: 978-0140267235
- Product Dimensions: 19.5 x 12.8 x 2.7 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (85 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 22,473 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
The English: A Portrait of a People
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
What is it about the English? Not the British overall, not the Scots, not the Irish or 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 spectre of a united Europe(and despite the raucous hype of "Cool Britannia"), the English seem to have entered a collective crisis of national identity.
Jeremy Paxman has set himself the task of finding just what exactly is going on. Why, he wonders, "do the English seem to enjoy feeling so persecuted? What is behind the English obsession with games? How did they acquire their odd attitudes to sex and food? Where did they get their extraordinary capacity for hypocrisy?" He ranges widely in pursuit of answers, sifting through literature, cinema and history. It is an intriguing investigation, encompassing many aspects of national life and character (such as it is), including the obligatory visit to that baffling phenomenon, the funeral of Princess Diana. Yet Paxman finds something fresh and interesting to say about even that now rather threadbare topic. In the end, he seems to find further questions to ask instead of answers. But why not? To him it is a sign that the English are acquiring a new sense of self. And some indication of this might lie in the obvious response to his remark that the English, being top of the British Imperial tree, had nicknames for the fellow nationalities--Jock, Taffy, Paddy and Mick--but there was no corresponding name for an Englishman. Of course, there is now, and it comes from one of the bits of empire to which so many undesirables were exported: Whinging Pom. --Robin Davidson
Product Description
Not so long ago, writes Jeremy Paxman, the English were "polite, unexcitable, reserved, and had hot-water bottles instead of a sex-life". Today the end of empire has killed off the Bulldog Breed - "fearless and philistine, safe in taxis and invaluable in shipwrecks" - and transformed the great public schools. Princess Diana was mourned with the effusive emotionalism of an Italian saint. Leader-writers in "The Times" even praise the sexual skills of English lovers ...So what are the defining features of "Englishness"? How can a country of football hooligans have such an astonishingly low murder rate? Does the nation's sense of itself extend to millions of black, Asian and other immigrant Britons? Is it grounded in arrogant, nostalgic fantasy or can it form the basis for building a realistic future within Europe? To answer these crucial questions, Paxman looks for clues in the English language, literature, luke-warm religion and "curiously passionless devotion" to cricket. He explores attitudes to Catholics, the countryside, intellectuals, food and the French. And he brings together insights from novelists, sociologists and gentleman farmers; the editor of "This England" magazine (launched in 1967 with the slogan "as refreshing as a cup of tea"); a banker enthusiastic about the "English vice" of flagellation; and a team at the OED looking for the first occurrence of phrases like "bad hair day" and "the dog's bollocks".
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Once upon a time the English knew who they were. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Once upon a time the English knew who they were. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
VERY well researched, but a little rambling,
This review is from: The English: A Portrait of a People (Paperback)
Paxman leaves the reader with the firm impression that they are simply not well enough read to be thumbing the pages of The English. It is a very densely written book, packed full of annecdotes and asides, and I enjoyed reading it. But it is more of a water-colour than a sketch - the author applies layer upon layer upn layer of detail, and the reader is given the feeling that neither he, nor Paxman, knows exactly what the English are really about. This may be Paxman's point - nationhood is too dense a subject to be delineated in simple terms. Maybe...I enjoyed the book, but it is not an intuitive read. Dense, witty, but generally a little confused - Paxman's sharp wit, of the genre displayed on Newsnight, was sadly lacking as a punctuation to a rather rambling tome.
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The English: A Portrait of a Book,
This review is from: The English: A Portrait of a People (Paperback)
I started reading this book over someone's shoulder on the tube. It was so good I had to admit to what I was doing and ask him what the book was called. Overall I enjoyed reading this book - although some chapters proved far more interesting than others. The chapter on weather for example was far more interesting than the attitudes to sex. I think this was because Paxman used some of his own creativity and characteristic flippance in writing this chapter, rather than rely on the views of others. I really enjoyed reading this book - but my girlfriend tried reading it after me and couldn't get into it at all.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good intentions, but incomplete effort,
By A Customer
This review is from: The English: A Portrait of a People (Paperback)
I suppose I was expecting a lot more from this book, given the admirable attempt to explain the behaviour and mindset of a whole nationality. It's a nearly impossible task to explain the actions of millions of people through whatever context chosen (history, culture, etc.) and I'm afraid this book for me has only scratched the surface. I was disappointed that the focus seemed to be primarily on explaining the English via the rest of the world's perception of what an English person is, and of course that's the stereotypical Eton-Oxbridge-Hooray Henry-pukka-Victorian "gentleman" with his Savile Row suits and bizarre public school education. Honestly, what percentage of the English fall into this category? Aren't people who went to other universities, or maybe didn't go to university at all, English too? You're hard pressed to find them or their experiences or thoughts in this book. When the book wasn't focussing on character as viewed through the upper classes it was either referencing events of the 15th century or repeatedly discussing why the English hate the French. It also spent a whole chapter ostensibly to discuss English women (wow! a whole chapter!) but instead of actually talking about the variety and character of English women, it hopped up onto a soap box about how women still aren't treated fairly everywhere, which seemed rather out of context for this book. I found Paxman's writing style somewhat opaque and confused - several times he opened chapters with promising sentences or interesting statements, only to drift off on unrelated tangents, as if he couldn't quite finish or explain his statement. But I did appreciate the detail present, and the general intention of the title to shed further light on a people is to be commended. The book does have some interesting insights, but on the whole, I prefer Bryson's "Notes from a Small Island". At least as an outsider he could see the possibility that the English character might consist of more than public school experiences.
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