Product Description

This work challenges the very idea of "England" and what it means to be English. Dr Jones has examined the origins of the sense of English identity that persists today in and in this book reveals a new perspective on how it came about. Many leaders have recognized the importance of history in the construction of a national identity. Hitler provides an extreme example of this in the 20th century. The possibility that the process of historical reinterpretation attempted in Germany may also have taken place centuries before in England is addressed here. Dr Jones reveals that during the reign of Henry VIII a false view of the English past was created in order to promote England as a sovereign and independent nation state. And it is this view of England's past that became so embedded in the nation's collective memory that it became one of the most powerful influences at work on English outlook and behaviour. While the techniques associated with this process of mass deception have become more familiar, the legacy of their effects is sometimes less clear. Dr Jones identifies this legacy and argues that a deliberately-conceived misunderstanding of their past made the English forget that they were Europeans and created a narrowly xenophobic outlook.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2451256 in Books
• Published on: 1998-04-23
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

Customer Reviews

Tony Blair is a sincere politcan who restrained Bush
I accidentally went to the end of the book and discovered a long - over 75 pages - afterword and epilogue in which the author really did claim that Blair was an honest politician. And that Blair was working to restrain Bush from unilateral action against Iraq and keep Bush working through the UN. This was published in 2003. After which the book went in the bin. A historian who regards Blair as honest - what is the point of reading the book? It is not just being that wrong but that the author has a different definition of telling the truth from most people and there is no point in reading history written by a person with this concept of truthfulness