Product Description

In the seventeenth century the English were often depicted as a nation of barbarians, fanatics, and king-killers. Two hundred years later they were more likely to be seen as the triumphant possessors of a unique political stability, vigorous industrial revolution, and a world-wide empire. These may have been British achievements; but the virtues which brought about this transformation tended to be perceived as specifically English. Ideas of what constituted Englishness changed from a stock notion of waywardness and unpredictability to one of discipline and dedication. The evolution of the so-called national character - today once more the subject of scrutiny and debate - is traced through the impressions and analyses of foreign observers, and related to English ambitions and anxieties during a period of intense change.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #874483 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 408 pages

Review
This wonderful book brings such detail and generalisation together by being organised not chronologically but by 'six major supposed traits of Englishness': Energy, Candour, Decency, Taciturnity, Reserve, Eccentricity. Langford has read widely and unpredictably, especially in accounts that have never been translated into English. This has allowed him to produce a book that is, in one respect, brilliantly un-English: it is fascinated by what foreigners have thought. The Guardian In a well-written, attractive and handsome book, Langford makes careful and appropriate use of travel literature by foreigners in order to provide a fascinating account of developments in the understanding of the national character of the English, a country of 'twenty-four religions and only one sauce' HISTORY A fascinating topic, ably covered HISTORY

HISTORY
"In a well-written, attractive and handsome book, Langford makes careful and appropriate use of travel literature by foreigners in order to provide a fascinating account of developments in the understanding of the national character of the English, a country of 'twenty-four religions and only one sauce"

HISTORY
"A fascinating topic, ably covered"