Andrew Adam
Maybe I'm being over-generous in my rating - it doesn't quite follow the premise set out in the blurb, but the author does several things excellently:
- he runs through millenea of British history in an accessible manner - making it a useful primer, especially for those of us who (thank goodness) weren't made to learn English monarchs by rote
- he maintains a healthy scepticism throughout, reminding us of the bias of the sources he references, and skewering many falsehoods that we take for granted
- throughout, he reinforces the point that "British" is not a static concept - we've been invaded, conquered, assimilated and generally mixed up so many times over the centuries, that genetically and culturally, we are European
- importantly (much to the chagrin of another reviewer), he doesn't shy away from the fact that *we are not the good guys* throughout much of history - pointing out the atrocities inflicted by European powers on each other and on societies across five other continents (and pithily describing the conflict between the Dutch and British East India Companies as "baddie versus baddie")
- and I can't not mention his class awareness, which is evident throughout. The arrogance and entitlement of monarchs, despots, and ruling classes are on full display.
The author clearly deplores the delusion behind British exceptionalism, and I wholeheartedly agree with him.
Maybe I'm being over-generous in my rating - it doesn't quite follow the premise set out in the blurb, but the author does several things excellently:
- he runs through millenea of British history in an accessible manner - making it a useful primer, especially for those of us who (thank goodness) weren't made to learn English monarchs by rote
- he maintains a healthy scepticism throughout, reminding us of the bias of the sources he references, and skewering many falsehoods that we take for granted
- throughout, he reinforces the point that "British" is not a static concept - we've been invaded, conquered, assimilated and generally mixed up so many times over the centuries, that genetically and culturally, we are European
- importantly (much to the chagrin of another reviewer), he doesn't shy away from the fact that *we are not the good guys* throughout much of history - pointing out the atrocities inflicted by European powers on each other and on societies across five other continents (and pithily describing the conflict between the Dutch and British East India Companies as "baddie versus baddie")
- and I can't not mention his class awareness, which is evident throughout. The arrogance and entitlement of monarchs, despots, and ruling classes are on full display.
The author clearly deplores the delusion behind British exceptionalism, and I wholeheartedly agree with him.