Customer Reviews

The English: A Portrait of a People

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Jeremy Paxman has written an entertaining and affectionate look at the English people. Wisely, he goes to some lengths to explain that English and British are not synonymous, though many foreigners assume that they are. Overall, his view of the English is kindly, but he does not hesitate to skewer a few pretensions. For example, he points out that the boorish behavior of some English soccer fans is not an aberration, but a throwback to pre-Victorian violence and drunkenness. Nevertheless Paxman spends much time on the inner strengths of the English,such as their capacity to pull together and survive horrendous difficulties like the Blitz. All in all inveterate Anglophiles will find much to enjoy and much to ponder in this work.

The author is part-Scottish and hosts a TV news show of some sort in Britain. Knowing American newscasters, I had low expectations going into this book -- I expected an earnest, babbling celebrity quickie. Surprisingly, this book is a very literate historical overview of the nature of Englishness. Paxman does a good job of quoting authors and journalists from each era he covers. As a result, you get a good sense of how the Englishmen of each era regarded themselves.

The book goes off the rails a bit near the end, when Paxman stops quoting the historical record and starts extending his own opinions about what the English need. This shift from history to cultural criticism is disconcerting -- it's like the first 4/5 of the book comes from "The Making of the Atomic Bomb", and the last fifth comes from "The Closing of the American Mind." [In genre, not in content, though Paxman does seem to have a slighly conservative streak.] I'm moving to London in about six weeks; once I'm over there we'll see how accurate Paxman's book is. It's a good read regardless.

Unlike the other reviewers listed here I have the benefit and handicap of being an Englishman. I was greatly disappointed that one of Britains finest political interviewers whose pursuit of weasel worded politicians is remorseless, has produced such a lazy book. I had little recognition of the English portrayed, he has just peddled tired cliches that were not true even a decade ago. He only merits one star for pointing out the difference between English and British, something many English do not recognise. To all those who loved this book I would say that the English are for more complex and interesting than Paxman portrays us.

I'd never read anything by Paxman before, so like other reviewers, I wondered how academic this might be. In fact, contrary to the reviews on the flyleaf, I didn't find it as funny as they suggested it might be.
But I was not disappointed but delighted. I didn't want some flippant lightweight humourous prose, but I got a very well researched book with some funny bits.
I've recommended it to Americans who don't understand the English psyche.

This book is well written,but if a foreigner reads it he will think that the English are a really bad nation,since an Englishman blames them so much.The book strats off with some attitudes foreigners have for the english and continues with the difference between being British and being english.After that it shows the great changes that have occured the last 100 years to England and the english.It's fine till the end of the first chapter,but from then on it blames the english constantly and it looks more than a collection of all the negative attitudes,offending stories,bad historical moments and people who goofed things rather than an analysis of the english nation.
I wouldn't recommend it either to foreigners or english people.

As a US ex-pat who has lived in Britain for 11 years, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Yes, it is a highly personal and opinionated book, but who wants to read a list of statistics? Besides, it's what Mr Paxman does best. It shows another endearing characteristic of the English - the tendency to declaim on anything without worrying about whether they actually know much about it and often being very entertaining while doing it.

The book is chiding without being churlish, funny without being farcical, and at times downright affectionate. It does get slightly repetitive and rambling, but I highly recommend it. It is a great conversation starter and at times made me laugh out loud.

Oh - and also - the "curiously English geek quiz show, University Challenge" actually started in the US as College Bowl before coming to the UK. But it is indeed far more popular here than it was there. Does this say something else about the English perhaps?

Covering a diverse number of topics related to english (as opposed to British) history,current events and social analysis this highly entertaining and witty study examines how the English identity is evolving in the age of multiculturalism. Along the way Paxman's insights on everything from football hooliganism to English sexual practices keep the pages turning. I enjoyed this very much and highly recommend it.

Well, I'm not English, nor British, so I can't say if this book passes the obvious test -- is it accurate? Paxman does seem to make a good attempt at detail, summarizing history and trying to explain the sometimes contradictory stereotypes we're all familiar with -- stiff upper lip, politeness, isolationism, imperialism, violent soccer fans. And, for Americans who tend to oversimplify, it's good to understand why Scottish (if that's even how you write it) and Irish are not English, and perhaps barely British. I figure I'll try to remember some of the themes and start conversations with my British co-workers.

As has been mentioned, Jeremy Paxman is an excellent interviewer. It was this fact which initially prompted my interest in this much publicized book.

What diappointed me was the style and form of the book. There seemed to be whole chapters of dirrectionless anecdotes and self-contained units of ideas and theories with very little by way of overall argument or flow. That is not to say that the anecdotes and observational comments were not interesting in themsleves, often they were, but at the end of a chapter or at the end of the book I found myself asking - what was the point? I also found some of the turns of phrase awkward.

Unlike a previous reviewer, much of the information contained in the book was new to me and I therefore found the book more interesting perhaps than those for whom it is simply a re-hash of what they already know. Because I found the book was informative to me, I give it three stars. I cannot give it more because, while I found many of the issues raised interesting and perceptively handled, it often lacked style and the form was such that the book did not inform the reader of the reason for or the general dirrection of the book. At the end I felt that, while the book had been interesting and entertaining, it had not really taken me anywhere.

A wonderfully light read, Paxman's English flies by through an admixture of fact and anecdote. If you are looking to enjoy a study of the English people, perhaps as you contemplate travelling to England, this book could be of use. The book flies by and retains substance at the same time. You will find yourself reading a hundred pages in a day. Trualy an English stylist.