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Book Description
A passionate and brilliant polemic on the meaning of national identity in modern Britain
Product Description
What does it mean to be English? What does it mean to be British? Is the cross of St George a proud symbol of a great tradition, or the badge of a neo-Nazi? In a world where British citizens can lay bombs to kill their countrymen, where religious fundamentalism is on the increase and where the BNP are somehow part of the democratic process, what does patriotism actually mean?
Our identity can change depending on what company we are in. For example, someone could describe themselves British to one person, Scottish to another and, say, a Londoner to another, and be right every time. But problems arise when someone tries to tell you what you are, based on your skin tone, religion, accent, surname, or whatever.
This book is Billy Bragg's urgent, eloquent and passionate response to the events of 7 July 2005, when four bombs tore through a busy morning in London, killing 52 innocent people and injuring many more.
A firm believer in toleration and diversity, he felt himself hemmed in by fascists on one side and religious fanatics on the other. The suicide bombers were all British-born and well integrated into our multicultural society. Yet they felt no compunction in murdering and maiming their fellow citizens. Inclusivity is important, but without a sense of belonging to accompany it, what chance social cohesion...
But where does a sense of belonging come from? Can it be conferred by a legal document? Is it a matter of blood and soil? Can it be taught? Is it nature or nurture? The Progressive Patriot is a book we all need to read. It pulls no punches in its insights and its radical vision offers a positive hope for a country teetering on the brink of catastrophe.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Billy Bragg is a well known singer songwriter and activist, and this is a very personal account of English identity. He examines both the history of dissent in England and his own family history as a way of examining how he came to his own views, and rounds it off with a passionate plea for a proper, modern Bill of Rights in this country as a way of countering the rise of fascist organisations like the BNP (British National Party), who have been particulalry successful, until recently, in his own East End of London. It's an interesting account of Englishness (rather than what it is to be British, for the Welsh and Scots seem more secure in their own identity), but it is rather uneven in the way it is written. At times the account becomes too personal, almost autobiographical, with long sections on the rise of Punk music and his part in the music scene of the time. Interesting in itself, but too much detail compared to the more measured historical analysis of English identity. Perhaps I was expecting more of the latter and not expecting the depth of autobiography, I certainly enjoyed that part more, and became restless when the focus switched back to his own family. Probably this should be two books not one, each one a litle more focussed...
40 of 49 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The great thing about Billy Bragg's attempt to piece together a progressive narrative for how the people who call Britain their home today came to be here, is that he isn't nearly as impressed with his erudition or cognitive powers as Amazon reviewer Mr Neil Saunders.
In his review Saunders is so pre-ocupied with grandstanding and giving people ample chance to enjoy his self-important opinions on the "sociocultural" left and right, postmodernism and Mrs Thatcher's intellectual limitations that he pays scant regard to what was actually written. When he does turn to the book itself, for instance the section on the Venerable Bede and the "myth" of our Anglo-Saxon ancestry he utterly fails to grasp the point Bragg makes. It's as if his intellectual narcissism has left him too dazzled to see clearly.
That's not the only part where Mr Saunder's rabid point-scoring leaves him exposed. At no time does Bragg present a "Celticist interpretation of English history". At the broadest level his book is a "bottom-up" response to the traditional Whig interpretation of history where the inexorable march of "liberty" has been facilitated by a generous patrician elite. At the lowest level, and this is where the book is so engaging, it's a deeply personal family history, firmly rooted in Barking, that humanises the great events of British constitutional development. Bragg clearly feels that Magna Carta, the Civil War, the Glorious Revolution, the Chartists, the social changes of WW2 and the post-war settlement affect his life and shape the nature of living in Britain today. His interpretation may be optimistic and at time naive but it is honest and clearly stated in a way that is worthy of our consideration.
You'll also never read another book that slides from Joe Strummer and the Clash, to Churchill and the Blitz, to Charles I and the Petition of Right so easily. Rather than evidence of Bragg's "endemic ignorance" of his history, it's the work of someone who is passionately engaged with our island story. As a history graduate who loves punk I was in hog heaven!
Billy Bragg's book is a timely call to rexamine our history and a kick in the shins to those trendy lefties who can't stand to see the flag of St George flying from car windows. The left's refusal to discuss questions of identity and nationality has ceded the field to the likes of the BNP and the Daily Mail to determine who does and who doesn't belong here. The Progressive Patriot does not present all the answers: it merely asks it's readers to consider these question anew, all with the passion and self-deprecating wit that fans of Billy Bragg's music would expect.
In his review Saunders is so pre-ocupied with grandstanding and giving people ample chance to enjoy his self-important opinions on the "sociocultural" left and right, postmodernism and Mrs Thatcher's intellectual limitations that he pays scant regard to what was actually written. When he does turn to the book itself, for instance the section on the Venerable Bede and the "myth" of our Anglo-Saxon ancestry he utterly fails to grasp the point Bragg makes. It's as if his intellectual narcissism has left him too dazzled to see clearly.
That's not the only part where Mr Saunder's rabid point-scoring leaves him exposed. At no time does Bragg present a "Celticist interpretation of English history". At the broadest level his book is a "bottom-up" response to the traditional Whig interpretation of history where the inexorable march of "liberty" has been facilitated by a generous patrician elite. At the lowest level, and this is where the book is so engaging, it's a deeply personal family history, firmly rooted in Barking, that humanises the great events of British constitutional development. Bragg clearly feels that Magna Carta, the Civil War, the Glorious Revolution, the Chartists, the social changes of WW2 and the post-war settlement affect his life and shape the nature of living in Britain today. His interpretation may be optimistic and at time naive but it is honest and clearly stated in a way that is worthy of our consideration.
You'll also never read another book that slides from Joe Strummer and the Clash, to Churchill and the Blitz, to Charles I and the Petition of Right so easily. Rather than evidence of Bragg's "endemic ignorance" of his history, it's the work of someone who is passionately engaged with our island story. As a history graduate who loves punk I was in hog heaven!
Billy Bragg's book is a timely call to rexamine our history and a kick in the shins to those trendy lefties who can't stand to see the flag of St George flying from car windows. The left's refusal to discuss questions of identity and nationality has ceded the field to the likes of the BNP and the Daily Mail to determine who does and who doesn't belong here. The Progressive Patriot does not present all the answers: it merely asks it's readers to consider these question anew, all with the passion and self-deprecating wit that fans of Billy Bragg's music would expect.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I've always felt that flying the Union flag should be for us as flying the starts and stripes is for Americans, an uncomplicated show of pride in the country. I've also felt that the national front and the bnp have stolen that from me.
So reading Billy Bragg's book has been a pleasure for me - discovering that a favourite musician has thought deeply about this and written a book.
The history is explained well and personally. I loved that, but I have to say I thought the book lost its way a bit about 2/3 of the way through. I can't be sure if that's because it was where Bragg's narrative and my own memories were almost the same...
Well worth reading, as a perspective on punk if nothing else!
So reading Billy Bragg's book has been a pleasure for me - discovering that a favourite musician has thought deeply about this and written a book.
The history is explained well and personally. I loved that, but I have to say I thought the book lost its way a bit about 2/3 of the way through. I can't be sure if that's because it was where Bragg's narrative and my own memories were almost the same...
Well worth reading, as a perspective on punk if nothing else!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
hypocrite.
the man is a self-serving hypocrite. anyone listening to this kind of drivel really should know better. Read more
Published 15 months ago by dorothy sayers
The bard of Barking writes
Billy Bragg's Progressive Patriot is part autobiography, part attempt to define and understand modern Britain. Read more
Published 21 months ago by FlyingAspidistra
One Hit Wonder
A one hit wonder in commercial terms,,,but that chart-topper New England is one more classic pop song then most people write. Read more
Published on 31 Mar 2009 by Lion Forrest
Plastic Punk
This book confirms that Bragg was never a proper punk like genuine working class heroes Joe Strummer, Garry Bushell and Paul Weller. Read more
Published on 7 Mar 2009 by Arthur Daley
Guitar legend comes of age.
Billy Bragg asks some topical questions in this well thought out book - his call for more debate on the barbed subject of national identity is both interesting and long overdue. Read more
Published on 23 Nov 2008 by Bobby Smith
An unusual perspective
Billy has always had two facets - the clever lyricist of love and the student union political bore (although he would never wanted to be a student). Read more
Published on 22 July 2008 by Nicholas Harman
A New England
The Progressive Patriot is a brave attempt to mix politics, history and biog, in light of the BNP's recent emergence in Braggs hometown of Barking. Read more
Published on 29 Oct 2007 by R. Reed
Not looking for a new England...
It hurts to write a harshly critical review of Billy Bragg's work.
The Progressive Patriot is an awful piece of work. Read more
The Progressive Patriot is an awful piece of work. Read more
Published on 10 July 2007 by Mr. B. Jones
Bring me the head of a Guardianista
I'd looked forward to this book for sometime. Whatever I expected, it wasn't this. From the turgid introduction and a first chapter full of assumptions and non sequiturs, the book... Read more
Published on 10 Jun 2007 by J. M. Watson
Telling the Guardianistas what they want to hear
In this book that well-known expert on dark-ages history, Billy Bragg, rebuts the ignorant falsehoods promoted by such lightweights as the Venerable Bede or ignoramuses like Sir... Read more
Published on 8 Dec 2006 by Neil Saunders
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