The Angry Island; Hunting the English

by A.A. Gill

• ISBN13: 9781416531739
• ISBN10: 1416531734
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-06-12
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Summary

Contents

Foreword

The Angry Island

Face

Voice

Memorials

Class

Humor

Cotswolds

Sorry

Animals

Drink

Gardens

Sport

Political Correctness

Qu

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
The Angry Island	p. 1
Face	p. 18
Voice	p. 43
Memorials	p. 59
Class	p. 79
Humor	p. 88
Cotswolds	p. 110
Sorry	p. 124
Animals	p. 127
Drink	p. 135
Gardens	p. 143
Sport	p. 154
Political Correctness	p. 161
Queues	p. 168
Letchworth Garden City	p. 177
Nostalgia	p. 191
Afterword	p. 213
Acknowledgments	p. 217
Index	p. 219
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

Foreword

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

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Excerpted from The Angry Island: Hunting the English by A. A. Gill
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.