"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
This is a collection of prejudice. Opinions based on a lifetime's experience. Identifying what it is that makes a nation a people and not just a random collective of individuals who happen to share the same geography is a risky business, but we all know that nations are recognizable and different from each other. It's almost too obvious to dispute that Canadians are not like Brazilians and the Irish are not synonymous with the Jews. A national character, when self-defined, is the stuffing of patriotism and pride. It is also the source of umbrage when the observation is made by foreigners.
The English are the most enigmatically indecipherable people when seen from outside. Even from the inside, what is definable isn't always understandable. Their homespun enigma is itself part of the carefully engineered English mythology. When I was first considering writing this book, an American said: Oh God, please, write an owner's manual for the English. We look at them and they're so familiar, but so alien and weird. I have no idea how you make or repair an Englishman.
This isn't quite an owner's manual, but it is a series of observations drawn from having lived amongst the English but never having felt one of them. This is not a book of facts. Facts are inert things. Facts are what pedantic, dull people have instead of opinions. Opinions are always interesting. What people deduce and make out of their own lives is what attracts and informs. Never mistake a fact for the truth. The English, of course, are inordinately fond of facts -- they hoard them and throw them through the windows of home truths. But facts are only the scaffolding, the trellis up which bright opinions are grown. So don't look for proofs here, there's precious little forensic evidence. This is just what I know to be true.
Copyright © 2005 by A. A. Gill
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
US$ 2.64
Within U.S.A.
Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 4190272-n
Book Description PAP. Condition: New. New Book. Shipped from UK. Established seller since 2000. Seller Inventory # GB-9780753820964
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. The English are naturally, congenitally, collectively and singularly, livid much of the time. In between the incoherent bellowing of the terraces and the pursed, rigid eye-rolling of the commuter carriage, they reach the end of their tethers.Perhaps aware that they're living on top of a keg of fulminating fury, the English have, throughout their history, come up with hundreds of ingenious and bizarre ways to diffuse anger or transform it into something benign. Good manners and queues, roundabouts and garden sheds and almost every game ever invented from tennis to bridge. They've built things, discovered stuff, made puddings, written hymns and novels and for people who don't like to talk much, they have come up with the most minutely nuanced and replete language ever spoken - just so there'll be no misunderstandings. In this hugely witty, personal and readable book, A.A Gill looks anger and the English straight in the eye. Foreigner Adrian Gill (a Scot) goes in search of the essence of England and the English Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780753820964
Book Description Condition: New. pp. 256. Seller Inventory # 262082245
Book Description Soft Cover. Condition: new. Seller Inventory # 9780753820964
Book Description paperback. Condition: New. Language: ENG. Seller Inventory # 9780753820964
Book Description Condition: New. pp. 256. Seller Inventory # 6847002
Book Description Paperback / softback. Condition: New. New copy - Usually dispatched within 4 working days. Foreigner Adrian Gill (a Scot) goes in search of the essence of England and the English. Seller Inventory # B9780753820964
Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. BRAND NEW ** SUPER FAST SHIPPING FROM UK WAREHOUSE ** 30 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. Seller Inventory # 9780753820964-GDR
Book Description Condition: New. In. Seller Inventory # ria9780753820964_new