Not in My Name: A Compendium of Modern Hypocrisy. Julie Burchill and Chas Newkey-Burden

by Julie Burchill, Chas Newkey-Burden

It is a great and glorious tradition the world over - to vehemently state one thing and then do the exact opposite. Royals are doing it, reformed smokers are doing it, and politicians are virtually synonymous with it. Welcome to the heyday of hypocrisy. From the everyday hypocrites (cyclists, white hip-hop fans, reality television-haters) to the truly pungent stinking hypocrites (chav-haters, green campaigners and anti-Americans), Julie Burchill and Chas Newkey-Burden pull no punches in their witty harangue of those who shamelessly say one thing and do another. This book features modern hypocrites' favourite holiday destinations, musical and sporting heroes, and the hilarious Hypocrites' Ultimate Weekend.

Genres: Cultural, Nonfiction

194 pages, Paperback

First published August 7, 2008

About the author

Julie Burchill is an English writer and columnist known for her provocative comments. Beginning as a writer for the New Musical Express at the age of 17, she has written for newspapers such as The Sunday Times and The Guardian. She is a self-declared "militant feminist". She has several times been involved in legal action resulting from her work. She is also an author and novelist, her 1989 novel Ambition being a bestseller, and her 2004 novel Sugar Rush being adapted for television.

Reviews

[Petra -thinks there is a rat behind the stove]

Mostly enjoyable rants from Julie Burchill who has made a whole career on being able to rant about anything that is against general public opinion and who writes very well. I have no idea if she actually believes in what she so passionately espouses or she just wants to be a public journalistic iconoclast. I hope she believes in it though, because I do hold so many of her points of view myself and reading the book, I was cheering her along all the way.

[Nick Johnson]

This book was awful. It is just a rant at views of people that the authors disagree with and without much in the way of argumentation. I am glad that I got this for next to nothing in a second hand bookshop - although I think that the 50p and the time invested in reading it was too high a cost. Terrible.

[Paul Saxton]

Not as good as it could/should have been. I like Julie Burchill, a lot, but I got the feeling that her contribution here was more of a favour to Chas Newkey-Burden (who writes extremely well about Israel).