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Entitled: A Critical History of the British Aristocracy Hardcover – 7 Sept. 2017
A polemical history of the British ruling class and how they ended up owning our nation.
The full, shocking story of the British aristocracy, from Anglo-Saxon times until the present day.
Exploring the extraordinary and sometimes pernicious social and political dominance enjoyed by the British aristocracy over centuries, Entitled seeks to explain how a tiny number of noble families rose to such a position in the first place and reveals the often nefarious means they have employed to maintain their wealth, power and prestige. It examines the greed, ambition, jealousy and rivalry which drove local barons to compete with one another and aristocratic families to guard their inheritance with phenomenal determination. In telling their history, it introduces a cast of extraordinary characters: fierce warriors, rakish dandies, political dilettantes, charming eccentrics, arrogant snobs and criminals who got away with murder.
Meticulously researched and engagingly written, Entitled tells a riveting story of arrogance, corruption and greed, the defining characteristic of the British ruling class.
- Print length448 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherDoubleday
- Publication date7 Sept. 2017
- Dimensions16.2 x 3.9 x 24 cm
- ISBN-100857523163
- ISBN-13978-0857523167
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Review
A proudly partisan history of the British aristocracy - which scores some shrewd hits against the upper class themselves, and the nostalgia of the rest of us for their less endearing eccentricities. A great antidote to Downton Abbey. -- Mary Beard
A riveting, insightful, gripping and horrifying account of how the UK aristocracy gained and maintained power right up to today. -- Charlie Falconer
Forget celebrity infidelity and drug abuse. Here is one of our greatest scandals – our class-ridden society. That's what should be exercising the Daily Mail. -- Helena Kennedy
Entitled is an energetic and engaging response to Whig historians in the tradition of Marxist historians. It is annoying and readable in equal measure. -- Jacob Rees-Mogg
Chris Bryant gives us a lively reminder of why we should "put not our trust in Princes" - or other landed knaves whose main achievement was to be born -- Neil Kinnock
From the Back Cover
About the Author
CHRIS BRYANT is a British Labour Party Politician who has been Member of Parliament since 2001. He was Minister for Europe in the last Labour Government and Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and Shadow Leader of the House of Commons in the Shadow Cabinet.
Before entering parliament Chris was a priest in the Church of England. His previous books include biographies of Sir Stafford Cripps and Glenda Jackson as well as, most recently, his two-volume Parliament: a Biography.
Product details
- Publisher : Doubleday; 1st edition (7 Sept. 2017)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 448 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0857523163
- ISBN-13 : 978-0857523167
- Dimensions : 16.2 x 3.9 x 24 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 1,048,602 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 584 in UK Politics
- 1,608 in Anthropological Customs
- 1,640 in European Governments & Politics
- Customer reviews:
About the author

My life has been full of careers. I have been a priest in the Church of England, Head of European Affairs at the BBC, Minister for Europe, London Manager for the educational charity Common Purpose, Hackney Councillor, author and (from 2001 to today) MP for the Rhondda. I was the one who asked Rebekah Brooks whether the News of the World had ever paid police officers for information - and asked Boris Johnson whether the Russians had ever tried to influence British elections and referendums. I was the first MP to perform his civil partnership in the Palace of Westminster - and then wrote a two volume history of Parliament. And I'm now the Chair of the House of Commons Committee on Standards.
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Bryant does argue this case; but in the main the book is a diatribe. At various points the author calls his chosen subjects greedy, pompous, precious, violent, deceitful, rapacious, ruthless, avaricious, immoral, ostentatious, self-serving, profligate, narcissistic, self-aggrandising, lusting for wealth and tax-dodging. What all of them? Pretty well, if you believe Bryant. And in every age? Well, yes, except perhaps in the Tudor period, when they were greedy for fame as well as wealth.
This is hard to believe. Surely, there must have been at least some, in every generation, who were capable of altruism? Not if you follow Bryant. Yet the above characteristics are surely to be found in the human race, rather than in any particular class; and even the Marxist does not hate the bourgeoisie: he assumes that they are compelled to behave as they do because that is in the nature of the system. Yet Bryant appears to hate the aristocracy. In the end, the book is boring, because you know what’s coming next.







