Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #222930 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Review
"'Magnificent: one of the most important books I have read in a long time. Revealing, stirring and brilliantly written, it should be read by everyone in England.' Zac Goldsmith, editor of The Ecologist"

BBC Wildlife Magazine
`Paul Kingsnorth has achieved something remarkable - a deeply disturbing critique that is powerful, well researched and beautifully written.'

Guardian
`Excellent'

Customer Reviews

Statement of truth
You'd think that a book entitled 'Real England' might have much of an audience north of Newcastle. But while the tales in this book, which detail the disappearance of local shops, the death of the farming community and the end of the pub, have a particular resonance for the English - who do retailing, farming and drinking better than just about anyone - the Scots, Welsh and Irish too can share the concerns raised in it. Because the sort of decline witnessed in this book is happening everywhere in Britain.

The book is relentlessly - and inevitably - depressing. That shouldn't be taken to mean that it isn't readable (on the contrary: I polished it off in a weekend). But the narrative throughout almost inescapably leads to the feeling that those small, almost unnoticed things that together made England special have passed forever. And yet... the author details pockets of resistance to the disappearing core of English life. Will this book inspire others to act, or simply a fine valedictory epitaph to England? Time will tell. But I urge you to read it either way.

I don't think other reviewers have mentioned the fantastic cover design - really clever and eye catching and a big factor in me picking up the book in the first place.

BE ANGRY
I've just read this and loved it. Kingsnorth writes passionately and, where needed, beautifully. Many of us will recognise bits of the picture he paints, but what he does is to bring it (the human impact of the destruction of English localities) alive in a single compelling narrative. You need to read this; and having done so you need to be angry. If you are like me you may also feel strangely drawn to wanting to buy Kingsnorth a pint.

A couple of observations. Part of the solution, he says, is to give local communities power over the matters which affect them, and he finds encouragement in the Government's "community empowerment" initiative. I hope he's right, but it must be doubtful whether the Government will let anything get in the way of national economic performance. The department responsible for community empowerment is also responsible for some of the main agents/engines of economic performance - planning, housing, and "regional development".

Kingsnorth's argument, rightly in my opinion, emphasises the importance of relationship to place in human identity. But relationship to community is also important, and doesn't get a mention. At the same time as place is being destroyed, communities are also being disrupted by the rapid demographic change resulting from increasing mobility and mass immigration. Part of the solution to this may be to rebuild community through sense of place, but this wouldn't sit easily with Kingsnorth's desire for continuity with the past.

Look at your own actions, do not blame corporations
Where do you go to buy your plants, food, books, cds from?
Do you go to your local retailer, in spite of the fact that his/her prices are bound to be higher than the big suppliers?
Or do you buy them form Amazon, Homebase, Tesco... so as to save yourself some penies?
This book shows that the consequences of that simple, daily choise are indeed far reaching and momentous. It would be hypocritical and irresponsable to blame it all on the 'big and nasty corporation', when the fact of the matter is that if they suceed at all is because people like you and me support them with our choices.