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Amazon.co.uk Review
What is it about the English? Not the British overall, not the Scots, not the Irish or Welsh, but the English. Why do they seem so unsure of who they are? As Jeremy Paxman remarks in his preface to The English, being English "used to be so easy". Now, with the Empire gone, with Wales and Scotland moving into more independent postures, with the troubling spectre of a united Europe(and despite the raucous hype of "Cool Britannia"), the English seem to have entered a collective crisis of national identity.

Jeremy Paxman has set himself the task of finding just what exactly is going on. Why, he wonders, "do the English seem to enjoy feeling so persecuted? What is behind the English obsession with games? How did they acquire their odd attitudes to sex and food? Where did they get their extraordinary capacity for hypocrisy?" He ranges widely in pursuit of answers, sifting through literature, cinema and history. It is an intriguing investigation, encompassing many aspects of national life and character (such as it is), including the obligatory visit to that baffling phenomenon, the funeral of Princess Diana. Yet Paxman finds something fresh and interesting to say about even that now rather threadbare topic. In the end, he seems to find further questions to ask instead of answers. But why not? To him it is a sign that the English are acquiring a new sense of self. And some indication of this might lie in the obvious response to his remark that the English, being top of the British Imperial tree, had nicknames for the fellow nationalities--Jock, Taffy, Paddy and Mick--but there was no corresponding name for an Englishman. Of course, there is now, and it comes from one of the bits of empire to which so many undesirables were exported: Whinging Pom. --Robin Davidson

Synopsis
Not so long ago, writes Jeremy Paxman, the English were "polite, unexcitable, reserved, and had hot-water bottles instead of a sex-life". Today the end of empire has killed off the Bulldog Breed - "fearless and philistine, safe in taxis and invaluable in shipwrecks" - and transformed the great public schools. Princess Diana was mourned with the effusive emotionalism of an Italian saint. Leader-writers in "The Times" even praise the sexual skills of English lovers ...So what are the defining features of "Englishness"? How can a country of football hooligans have such an astonishingly low murder rate? Does the nation's sense of itself extend to millions of black, Asian and other immigrant Britons? Is it grounded in arrogant, nostalgic fantasy or can it form the basis for building a realistic future within Europe? To answer these crucial questions, Paxman looks for clues in the English language, literature, luke-warm religion and "curiously passionless devotion" to cricket. He explores attitudes to Catholics, the countryside, intellectuals, food and the French.

And he brings together insights from novelists, sociologists and gentleman farmers; the editor of "This England" magazine (launched in 1967 with the slogan "as refreshing as a cup of tea"); a banker enthusiastic about the "English vice" of flagellation; and a team at the OED looking for the first occurrence of phrases like "bad hair day" and "the dog's bollocks".

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73 Reviews 5 star:  (24) 4 star:  (27) 3 star:  (7) 2 star:  (9) 1 star:  (6)           Average Customer Review (73 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   12 of 12 people found the following review helpful: An Excellent Book, 20 Jun 1999 By A Customer About two years ago, a Romanian friend of mine asked me for some help on a dissertation she was preparing called 'The National Identity of the English'. This, to her was a completely natural request for help: she could have easily answered, as could any half-intelligent Romanian, the reverse question on Romanian national identity, even in these troubled times. However, to me, this 'simple' question posed enormous problems. I could not find one book to help me. Scotland... yes, Wales... yes and even Britain but not England. Eventually, after weeks of fruitless search, the best I could come up with was a book on the 'Empire English'. However, even here, it was a story of the British national identity which bears little resemblance to the England of today with a 'crisis' of devolution of Britain and prospects of further 'encroachment' on our England from Europe. So, her question had raised many questions in my head about the new nature of England: questions of what the English identity really is. Paxman, in this book, answers many of these questions whilst raising many more. This book takes us on a journey through time. The move from the typically British identity to a new English one of today. Paxman's sharp, if journalistically cynical, observation and writings lead us towards the recognition of a new English nationalism and the picture of one that will emerge after Britain has finally separated. It could be recommended to any Englishman or women who want to express their idea of England and to any foreigner who wants to know who we are. In the future on being asked the question 'Explain the National Identity of the English' I will have no hesitation in giving this book as the best answer available today.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   11 of 11 people found the following review helpful: VERY well researched, but a little rambling, 1 May 2000 By  johnstartin@hotmail.com (Oxford, UK) - See all my reviews Paxman leaves the reader with the firm impression that they are simply not well enough read to be thumbing the pages of The English. It is a very densely written book, packed full of annecdotes and asides, and I enjoyed reading it. But it is more of a water-colour than a sketch - the author applies layer upon layer upn layer of detail, and the reader is given the feeling that neither he, nor Paxman, knows exactly what the English are really about. This may be Paxman's point - nationhood is too dense a subject to be delineated in simple terms. Maybe... I enjoyed the book, but it is not an intuitive read. Dense, witty, but generally a little confused - Paxman's sharp wit, of the genre displayed on Newsnight, was sadly lacking as a punctuation to a rather rambling tome.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   10 of 10 people found the following review helpful: Excellent, 3 Jan 1999 By A Customer This review is from: The English: A Portrait of a People (Hardcover) About two years ago, a Romanian friend of mine asked me for some help on a dissertation she was preparing called 'The National Identity of the English'. This, to her was a completely natural request for help: she could have easily answered, as could any half-intelligent Romanian, the reverse question on Romanian national identity, even in these troubled times. However, to me, this 'simple' question posed enormous problems. I could not find one book to help me. Scotland... yes, Wales... yes and even Britain but not England. Eventually, after weeks of fruitless search, the best I could come up with was a book on the 'Empire English'. However, even here, it was a story of the British national identity which bears little resemblance to the England of today with a 'crisis' of devolution of Britain and prospects of further 'encroachment' on our England from Europe. So, her question had raised many questions in my head about the new nature of England: questions of what the English identity really is. Paxman, in this book, answers many of these questions whilst raising many more. This book takes us on a journey through time. The move from the typically British identity to a new English one of today. Paxman's sharp, if journalistically cynical, observation and writings lead us towards the recognition of a new English nationalism and the picture of one that will emerge after Britain has finally separated. It could be recommended to any Englishman or women who want to express their idea of England and