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Patriots : National Identity in Britain 1940-2000
Who are the British today? For nearly three hundred years British national identity was a unifying force in times of glory and despair. It has now virtually disappeared. In Patriots, Richard Weight explores the decline of Britishness and the rise of powerful new identities in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Based on a wealth of original research, it is scholarly in depth and scope, yet never departs from a thoroughly readable and entertaining style. `Here are the themes of Orwell`s The Lion and the Unicorn stretched over the subsequent sixty years and widened to embrace the whole United Kingdom. Brimming with zest and feel this is politico-cultural history at its best.` Peter Hennessy`Wide-ranging, intelligent, sensible and important.` Max Hastings, Sunday Telegraph `A marvellously rich, ambitious and at times iconoclastic study by a young historian of how, in the broadest sense, national identity in Britain has changed in the last 60 or so years` David Kynaston, Financial Times `A major the fruit of long research, wide reading and hard thinking, engagingly written, bubbling with fresh ideas` Stephen Howe, Independent
866 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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September 26, 2009
Very impressive account of the fate of British identity during the second half of the 20th century. In many ways a follow-on from Linda Colley's book, 'Britons', but with a more partisan Orwellian thrust to the argument.
Colley's identification of Protestantism as the core of British identity had been considerably modified by the beginning of WWII, but still remained in the expectation that state institutions, the monarchy, parliament, the BBC, etc would maintain it as a bias in its narrative about national life. But the critical event was WWII itself, and the opportunities that gave to the maintenance of the 'our island story' myth.
In his conclusion Weight states that Britain was forced by the English to secure its home base as it began its really great adventure in imperialism. The Scots, Northern Irish, and to a lesser extent Welsh, saw advantages in joining in this enterprise and were prepared to either sacrifice national sovereignity (Scotland) or the hope of recovering it (Welsh)to the chance to participate. But the post-war unravelling of the imperial project meant that the glue which had held the Union together became unstuck. For Weight, the significant stroy during the past three decades has been the failure of the English elites to generate a replacement for empire as the basis for keeping the British nations together.
Godd book - well worth the trouble of plowing through its 700 pages.
Colley's identification of Protestantism as the core of British identity had been considerably modified by the beginning of WWII, but still remained in the expectation that state institutions, the monarchy, parliament, the BBC, etc would maintain it as a bias in its narrative about national life. But the critical event was WWII itself, and the opportunities that gave to the maintenance of the 'our island story' myth.
In his conclusion Weight states that Britain was forced by the English to secure its home base as it began its really great adventure in imperialism. The Scots, Northern Irish, and to a lesser extent Welsh, saw advantages in joining in this enterprise and were prepared to either sacrifice national sovereignity (Scotland) or the hope of recovering it (Welsh)to the chance to participate. But the post-war unravelling of the imperial project meant that the glue which had held the Union together became unstuck. For Weight, the significant stroy during the past three decades has been the failure of the English elites to generate a replacement for empire as the basis for keeping the British nations together.
Godd book - well worth the trouble of plowing through its 700 pages.
Displaying 1 of 1 review