by SimonWinder (Author)
`This is a brilliant look at the British Empire, and its fall, as reflected in the gadget-filled, babe-bagging, martini-swilling, world-saving career of James Bond. It's utterly unique. Sly, funny, occasionally sad, a wild mix of cultural history, film criticism, and memoir in which the author, trying to fathom the disorienting collapse of his parents' world, finds the key in the somewhat daft (Winder's word) creation of Ian Fleming. It burns from beginning to end' Rich Cohen, author of Sweet and Low
`Winder pulls it off with fizzing enjoyment . . . His talent for pitch-perfect depreciative comedy fully justifies this aim. When he's not Swift, he's Twain' Sunday Telegraph
`A book of eccentric brilliance that covers everything from Jamaica as lieu de memoire to the sexual magnetism of General Nasser' Times Literary Supplement
`A hilarious blend of cultural history, biography and memoir' Guardian
`An entertaining yomp through the literary and cinematic heartland of James Bond country' Sunday Times
`A diverting book of true fanaticism' Metro
`Almost ridiculously enjoyable' New Statesman
Format: Paperback
Pages: 304
Edition: New edition
Publisher: Picador
Published: 15 Jun 2007
ISBN 10: 0330442465
ISBN 13: 9780330442466
The nimble and witty Simon Winder sifts through Ian Fleming's formulaic 007 books with excellent and often hilarious explanations. . . . [An] enchanting book--social history at its best. -- The Palm Beach Post
Winder has an easy journalistic tone, a surprisingly objective take on his own obsession, and an encyclopedic knowledge of all things Bond- and Ian Fleming-related. . . . Witty and intelligent. -- Financial Times (U.K.)
Almost ridiculously enjoyable. -- New Statesman (U.K.)