- Hardcover: 384 pages
- Publisher: W&N; First edition edition (11 Mar 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0297643126
- ISBN-13: 978-0297643128
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14.6 x 3.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,144,130 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| ||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Ian Buruma's wonderful book on Europe's fascination with England takes its title from a remark made by Voltaire in the mid-18th century: wasn't it possible for England's love of law and liberty to be planted, like the seeds of coconut trees, throughout Europe? Voltaire was the ultimate Anglophile: liberal, humorous, enlightened and ultimately humane, not unlike Buruma himself, whose delightful Voltaire's Coconuts weaves a compelling story, from Voltaire onward, of the ways in which European exiles and emigrés have fallen under the spell of the intangible mix of snobbery, liberalism, xenophobia and tolerance which make up what it means to be English.
Buruma's roll call of Anglophiles is impressive. Wonderful sections on Voltaire are followed by chapters on Goethe's Bardolatry, a marvellously vivid account of frustrated revolutionary exiles in Victorian London (including Marx and Mazzini), Theodor van Herzl's vision of a Jewish state based on his admiration of the English aristocracy. The book concludes with sketches of two of the most influential Anglophiles of 20th-century English culture: Nikolaus Pevsner and Isaiah Berlin. But as well as being an elegant and witty cultural history of European "Anglomania", Voltaire's Coconuts never loses sight of the darker side of national belonging, as Buruma interweaves his own complex family history into his narrative, as well as some subtle and perceptive accounts of the state of the nation as Buruma views it from the office of The Spectator and the Conservative Party Conference in post-Thatcherite Britain. A marvellous book about belonging and Englishness: witty, erudite, subtle and above all humane. --Jerry Brotton
Product Description
Voltaire's Coconuts is a wonderfully engaging and witty combination of history and biography which looks at how Europeans have been fascinated by all that it means to be English. Dutch by birth, Buruma came to live in England in 1990 for the third time in his life and noticed a new mood of introspection. Englishness was a subject of endless discussion. Fox hunting was debated, loyalty to English cricket a hot issue, and the future of the monarchy rarely out of the news. This worrying over Englishness resulted, in Buruma's words, 'in great balls of intellectual wool', obscuring the more practical reasons why Europeans have admired (or hated) Britain in the past: its liberal institutions, its civil liberties, its delicate balance between social order and the free pursuit of self-interest. In this brilliant and elegantly written book Buruma examines these ideas about Englishness and what Europeans admired or loathed about Britain. Voltaire wondered why British laws could not be planted in France, or even Serbia, like the precious seeds of coconut trees. Karl Marx thought the English were too stupid to start a revolution; Goethe worshipped Shakespeare; Baron de Coubertin's idea of the modern Olympic Games was inspired by Tom Brown's Schooldays; Theodor Herzl's dream of the Jewish state was fuelled by his love of British aristocracy; and the German Kaiser was convinced that Britain was run by Jews. Combining biographical stories of these European Anglophiles and Anglophobes with memories of his own Anglo-Dutch-German-Jewish family, Ian Buruma has found a wholly original way of describing the relationship between Britain and Europe. This is a dazzlingly clever book which through its exploration of anglomania shows how much Englishness and people's view of it has shaped modern Europe.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Being an unquestionable Anglophile myself the book makes clear WHY. As such it not only gives an excellent view on why people like and love Britain but also in ones own mind, how you think and feel. Being an Anglophile doesnot mean that you accept anything without criticism about what Britain did, does and stands for in this world but that you understand why and why things (also the bad things) "fit". Two specifically strong poits in the book are the quotes and remarks about other countries;Ian Buruma not seldom acknowledges that on certain fields those countries perform better tha Britain thus showing his true respect for them, his integrity and broad knowledge. Another fascinating, and as far as I know not very often debated subject is the relation between Britain and the Jews, throughout history as well as at present. Where we know much of of the attitude of other countries including France and perhaps my also my own country, the Netherlands, Ian Buruma gives insight (although not completely of course because that is not the subject of his book) in that (in many respects very special relation). As I said, an excellent book, also for Eurosceptics dirk
1 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
On the whole an interesting book from the viewpoint of an European. Will make fascinating reading for both English and European whose horizons are confined to Europe. The short-coming is the lack of information on how the English is coping with the rapidly expanding non-English population in England and the 'browning' of the many English cities.
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Biography > Historical > Countries & Regions > Europe
- Books > Biography > Historical > Social & Urban History
- Books > Biography > Medical, Legal & Social Sciences > Anthropology & Sociology
- Books > History > Cultural History
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Anthropology > Social & Cultural
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
