The Guardian Columns 1998-2000 [Paperback]

Julie Burchill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2001

The iconoclast of her generation, Julie Burchill - who started her infamous career aged 17 on the "NME" - has been thrilling and dismaying readers most recently in the "Guardian on Saturday". Whether lampooning the cult of celebrity, old men who behave like young lads, two ex-husbands or the hypocrisy of New Labour and the middle classes, Britain's Worst Mother (a title bestowed on her by the "Daily Mail") applies her idiosyncratic and dissecting wit to the world we think is around us. This is a collection of her "Guardian" columns from January 1998 through to December 2000, a period that has seen the Kosovan war, the decline and fall of the Dome, and the eventual election of a new American President. There is no other commentator who can turn received wisdom on its head like Burchill, whether it's applied to world events or to the latest media personality. And there is no other journalist who can combine such relentless insight, malice and warmth to deserving causes. She is one of the best columnists around - an antidote to the glut of confession columns that saturate the weekend papers - and this collection brings together the best of her writing.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Social critic and journalist Burchill's latest offering is a collection of her weekly columns from the London-based newspaper the Guardian. Burchill, a founding editor of the postmodern journal the Modern Review and an influential cultural commentator in Britain, expounds on such diverse social issues as celebrity, feminism, race relations, and domestic violence. Opinionated and assured, Burchill writes in an informal but oftentimes bellicosemanner. Most of the columns offer dissent on current social and cultural events occurring in Britain and America. American readers not familiar with British popular culture may not understand the significance of some of the names or events mentioned. However, Burchill provides an illuminating examination of American culture from a British perspective that many readers will enjoy. Recommended for academic and larger public libraries with a popular culture or media studies collection. Katherine E. Merrill, Rochester P.L., NY
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Born in Bristol in 1959, Julie Burchill is known for her controversial and acerbic style of journalism. At seventeen, she went to work for the New Musical Express, at nineteen The Face, at twenty-four The Sunday Times. She has written for many magazines and national newspapers and is the author of eight previous books.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Orion (October 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 075284380X
• ISBN-13: 978-0752843803
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,909,805 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How I learned to stop worrying and love Julie Burchill, August 4, 2001

By 

Stuart Hannay (Sheffield, South Yorkshire United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Guardian Columns 1998-2000 (Paperback)

The Guardian letters page on Saturdays is regularly filled by outraged proclomations from those offended by Julie's latest column. Her targets are widespread and her arguments fantastically inconsistent. She manages to make you actually think about many things you take for granted after being bombarded by the British media, Bosnia - how did the Serbs suddenly become intrinsically evil?, actors - what do they do? why? etc. Whilst much of it may sometimes seem like the easy baiting of unsuspecting Liberals she manages to ask questions that undermine accepted thinking - for example, why is it considered outrageous to chant racist remarks at a footballer,(she does not condone this) but when the same footballer allegedly beats up his girlfiend it all becomes a bit more complicated and people start to wring their hands and think up excuses? It's not comfortable, but it's usually funny and thought provoking. She's in a league of her own in terms of newspaper columnists, the main reason being that she can actually write.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reactionary radical, November 22, 2003

By 

"idioteqnician" (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Guardian Columns 1998-2000 (Paperback)

Well this book had me laughing out loud in quite a few places and each time the laugh would come out of nowhere; Burchill's pretty good with the low blows that you didn't see coming. Each of the articles here is about 3 or so pages long and I was able to sit for hours just reading one after another. Sometimes I think she's dead on, other times slightly out to lunch, and occasionally she's got her head right up her own ass, but that's still a laugh so I didn't mind too much.

With them all collected like this and reading them in a short time span, you do realize that she recycles more than she should, with the same certain topics, rants, and funny lines wearing a little thin. But at the same time, she puts a fresh spin on so many topics that, whether I agreed with them or not, I ended up loving it if only to hear someone say something different while leaving their intelligence intact. In that way, Julie Burchill seems to be a case of "form over content". What she's hammering on about doesn't matter quite as much as the attitude with which she does it.

Her views of gender can be a bit reactionary for a self-proclaimed radical feminist though. And enough of the working class poster child schtik while bragging about making your first million before age 30!