Product Details
Simon & Schuster UK, March 2012
Trade Paperback, 336 pages
ISBN-10: 0857201425
ISBN-13: 9780857201423
Description
Mark Easton's Britain Etc. looks at the UK through its relationship to 26 subjects - one for each letter of the alphabet. From Alcohol, Beat Bobbies, Cheese and Dogs through Immigration, Justice, Knives and Murder to the Queen, Umbrellas, Vegetables and the Zzzz of a well-deserved rest, the book's meticulously researched but accessible essays map the back-story of contemporary Britain.
With each lettered chapter, the reader is invited to look at the United Kingdom in a new way: standing back to see our small islands in a global or historical context, and then diving down to scrutinise vital details that may be overlooked. Taken together, the essays reveal a Britain that cannot be seen through the prism of daily news or current affairs. A park, a wedding, a beggar and a carrot all take on new significance once you have read Britain Etc.
As the UK welcomes millions of visitors to its shores for the Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, this is a book that offers insight into the psyche of Britain; a nation's obsessions, prejudices, values and idiosyncrasies. What sort of place is it, what are the natives like, and how did we get to where we are?
With each lettered chapter, the reader is invited to look at the United Kingdom in a new way: standing back to see our small islands in a global or historical context, and then diving down to scrutinise vital details that may be overlooked. Taken together, the essays reveal a Britain that cannot be seen through the prism of daily news or current affairs. A park, a wedding, a beggar and a carrot all take on new significance once you have read Britain Etc.
As the UK welcomes millions of visitors to its shores for the Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, this is a book that offers insight into the psyche of Britain; a nation's obsessions, prejudices, values and idiosyncrasies. What sort of place is it, what are the natives like, and how did we get to where we are?
Guardian.co.uk, March 3, 2012
...with high degrees of insight and humour: what was another trawl going to reveal? But it's terrific. Mark Easton , home editor of BBC News, has given us the very opposite of what could have been a lazy rehash. With wisdom and skill and, ...
The Scotsman, February 26, 2012
...rather delicious irony. The application form from a literary festival inviting me to talk about my new book Britain etc. wanted to know my nationality. There was a box of options: English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish or... other. Other? I have ...
