Welcome to Everytown: A Journey Into the English Mind

by Julian Baggini

What do the English think? Every country has a dominant set of beliefs and attitudes concerning everything from how to live a good life, how we should organize society, and the roles of the sexes. Yet despite many attempts to define our national character, what might be called the nation's philosophy has remained largely unexamined until now. Philosopher Julian Baggini pinpointed postcode S66 on the outskirts of Rotherham, as England in microcosm - an area which reflected most accurately the full range of the nation's inhabitants, its most typical mix of urban and rural, old and young, married and single. He then spent six months living there, immersing himself in this typical English Everytown, in order to get to know the mind of a people. It sees the world as full of patterns and order, a view manifest in its enjoyment of gambling. It has a functional, puritanical streak, evident in its notoriously bad cuisine. In the English mind, men should be men and women should be women (but it's not sure what children should be). Baggini's account of the English is both a portrait of its people and a personal story about being an alien in your own land. Sympathetic but critical, serious yet witty, "Welcome to Everytown" shows a country in which the familiar becomes strange, and the strange familiar.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sociology, Philosophy, British Literature

Paperback

First published March 5, 2007

About the author

Julian Baggini is a British philosopher and the author of several books about philosophy written for a general audience. He is the author of The Pig that Wants to be Eaten and 99 other thought experiments (2005) and is co-founder and editor of The Philosophers' Magazine. He was awarded his Ph.D. in 1996 from University College London for a thesis on the philosophy of personal identity. In addition to his popular philosophy books, Baggini contributes to The Guardian, The Independent, The Observer, and the BBC. He has been a regular guest on BBC Radio 4's In Our Time.

Reviews

[Robert Giddings · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd kind of like to give this 3.5 stars. It's an interesting read, and very accessible given the book's subject. It's engaging and well written but I did have two issues with it.

The first is that the author does tend to come across as a bit snobbish, and while he often tries to play this down by saying "who's to say whether I'm right or they are?" it seems to be accompanied by a silent "I am, but look how magnanimous I'm being by allowing this to be questioned". Interestingly, I found him most snobbish when he said things I found it difficult to relate to, so when he talks about, say, preferring independent art house movies to blockbusters, I was on board, but when he talks about food, and the horror of being unable to get decent calamari in his local chippie, he lost my sympathy. So maybe it says as much about my pretensions and prejudices as it does about the author's.

The second is that while he talks a lot about the working classes, and sets out to experience the day to day lives of those people, he says nothing about actual work, and makes no mention of trying to find a job, or watching people perform their job. I'd imagine that English people's attitudes to work say as much about the national character as their attitudes to alcohol or gambling, probably more. Maybe it's not fair to mark down a review because the book didn't contain something you wanted it to, but this seemed like a significant omission.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is lots of to admire about this book. I agreed with the author’s observations about British ‘conservative communitarianism’ and the chapter on Brits abroad was spot on. However, I couldn’t help but find the whole tone quite condescending, despite the author’s best intentions. Baggini does quite a good job examining his own assumptions and prejudices but can’t quite escape the trap of sounding too much like a smug Guardian commentator, which I guess is what he is. This is worth a read and in places it is very perceptive, but lots felt a little too well trodden.

[Toby · Rating 3 out of 5]

More reportage than analysis. Baggini does an adequate job of describing the mores and attitudes of a Rotherham suburb, though questions have to be asked as to just how typical any place can really claim to be. The S66 postcode may be very median in respect of statistics but South Yorkshire is not, I would venture to say, a place that is typical of anywhere other than South Yorkshire.

[Jade Twiby · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book bizarrely entertaining due to how much it reminded me of where I used to live, which makes sense given its ~10 miles down the road from everytown, but I think he made some iffy points and missed other significant and interesting talking points.
6/10

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was somehow...less...than I expected. The observations were spot on, but somehow the book overall seemed repetitive and as though something was missing.

[Margaret · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is about Rotherham and was written during the child sexual exploitation scandal! I didn't know it when I bought it but this book is about Rotherham and was written during the child sexual exploitation scandal. Except there is NO MENTION of any of it! Knowing about the scandal gives the book a very surreal and sinister feeling. Like you, I was just looking for a book about life in a typical English city. I obviously would never have bought it if I knew it was about Rotherham. I just wanted to write this review so no one else gets blindsided by it.

[Jill Lamond · Rating 5 out of 5]

David Cameron should have read this before he decided to ask the country to vote on Brexit!

[Richard Clarkson · Rating 4 out of 5]

who knew Rotherham could be so fascinating?

[Henry Northcott · Rating 5 out of 5]

S66

Having grown up in the aforementioned postcode, and having discovered this book existed in 2009 ,it has taken me a full nine years to buy it and read it. It has made me chuckle with the familiar stuff that is discussed,opened my eyes a touch ,to my childhood local area and the pub culture that it revolves around. I've enjoyed reading it . It's dated now because we'll its been 13 yrs since the author stayed there. The photo from his front bedroom is now a piece of history as Lighting Bug has been demolished and a brand spanking new Aldi built there instead. Tesco in Rotherham has moved and that central area is now finally available. Buildings have changed and with the advent of HS2 will be further changed in about 6 years time. Even the post office on Leslie road has now moved down Rotherham road and so it's been consigned to history. It is however a valuable resource for anyone who lives there, has lived there and is a special book because it has captured the zeitgeist of that time . Thanks for writing it. It's been strangely fascinating.

[Miles Isham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many books like this, i.e popular science/philosophy, tend to have the same faults. They start off with a few good ideas but run out of steam and become repetitive or get sidetracked. So Julian deserves credit for maintaining interest and keeping the ideas coming throughout. It certainly gave me plenty to think about and oppotunities to reconsider my own prejudices, which is exactly what I wanted.

[iain meek · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating study of the average English person.

The author has immersed himself in a very average English setting, watching the most popular TV programmes, reading the most popular newspapers, much of the time eating the most popular English foods, etc, etc. I am amazed he didn't go mad.

Anthropology on our doorsteps.

[Dave Powell]

Very enjoyable read. Baggini really has a knack for making philosophy accessible to a wider readership. Particularly enjoyed the chapter about taste - should be read by anyone who uses criticising the davinci code as short hand for proving how intelligent they are.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting. I found myself agreeing with his analysis on a lot of points. It was also good to find someone who doesn't fit with the majority and wants to understand why, without going down the 'they're wrong' route. Helpful too, made me feel less of an oddball.

[Kacper · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5-4.0