The English: A Portrait of a People

by JeremyPaxman (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  1998

  $4.19

• Used

  Paperback
  2007

  $3.25

  This is a brilliantly researched, hugely entertaining study of the English by Britain's best-known broadcaster. In the light of membership of Europe, the loss of an Empire and a devolved United Kingdom, the English no longer know who they are. Covering every aspect of the English identity (from cricket to Cumberland sausages, St George to Bernie Grant, the Book of Common Prayer to Cool Britannia , John Bull to football thugs) and combining popular history with incisive interviews, Jeremy Paxman provides some fascinating and timely answers.

• New

  Paperback
  2007

  $13.76

  In The English Jeremy Paxman sets out to find 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? Jeremy Paxman is to many the embodiment of Englishness yet even he is sometimes forced to ask: who or what exactly are the English? And in setting about addressing this most vexing of questions, Paxman discovers answers to a few others. Like: Why do the English actually enjoy feeling persecuted? What is behind the English obsession with games? How did they acquire their odd attitudes to sex and to food? Where did they get their extraordinary capacity for hypocrisy? Covering history, attitudes to foreigners, sport, stereotypyes, language and more, The English brims over with stories and anecdotes that provide a fascinating portrait of a nation and its people. Intelligent, well-written, informative and funny...A book to chew on, dip into, quote from and exploit in arguments . (Andrew Marr, Observer ). Bursting with good things . ( Daily Telegraph ). Jeremy Paxman is a journalist, best known for his work presenting Newsnight and University Challenge. His books include Empire , On Royalty , The English and The Political Animal . He lives in Oxfordshire.