From one of the most perceptive observers of the English today comes a brilliantly insightful, mordantly funny account of their seemingly irrational embrace of nationalism. England’s recent lurch to the right appears to be but one example of the nationalist wave sweeping across the world, yet as acclaimed Irish critic Fintan O’Toole suggests in The Politics of Pain, it is, in reality, a phenomenon rooted in World War II. We must look not to the vagaries of the European Union but, instead, far back to the end of the British empire, if we hope to understand our most fraternal ally—and the royal mess in which the British now find themselves. O’Toole depicts a roiling nation that almost ludicrously dreams of a German invasion, if only to get the blood going, and that erupts in faux outrage over regulations on “prawn-flavored crisps.” A sympathetic yet unsparing observer, O’Toole asks: How did a great nation bring itself to the point of such willful self-harm? His answer represents one of the most profound portraits of the English since Sarah Lyall’s New York Times bestseller The Anglo Files.
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This book is an attempt to explain the result of the 2016 Brexit vote that ends up feeling pretty persuasive. A feeling of being hard-done-by after their victory in World War II leads to toxic self-pity which hardened into an anti-European English (not British) nationalism. I did find it quite repetitive at times, and wished that there was more in here on the nearly 50-year experience of the UK's EU membership (the book touches on the beginning of the relationship and of course relentlessly examines the end).
It's remarkable how many reactionary movements are based on an undeniable overdog taking on the sympathy-inspiring underdog position. I think that particular framework will be this book's lasting effect on me.
