England

Seven Myths That Changed a Country – and How to Set Them Straight

Tom Baldwin, Marc Stears

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English

Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
25 April 2024

Social & cultural history; Politics & government; Elections & referenda

Tom Baldwin and Marc Stears take on seven myths that distort our ideas of England and where the country is heading.

‘Challenging, forensic, compelling' Sathnam Sanghera

‘Pure centrist erotica. A myth-busting chronicle of bad-tempered, Brexit-riven England' Sunday Times

‘Wonderfully evocative. Too honest, too nuanced and too deep for any party manifesto' Matthew Parris

In an election year when this country stands on the cusp of a change in government, there will once again be efforts to over-inflate myths about England that block out what's important in our politics.

Some politicians will talk of restoring an English birthright of liberty or the swashbuckling self-confidence to rule the waves. Others will yearn for the old-fashioned morality with which, they claim, England once civilised a savage world. Still will more look inwards to a story of an enchanted island that can stand alone and isolated against the world.

In England, Tom Baldwin, bestselling biographer of Keir Starmer, and Marc Stears, influential think tank head, unravel seven myths that have distorted ideas of this country and provided ammunition for charlatans or culture warriors from both left and right.

Instead of vainly promising to solve everything all at once, Baldwin and Stears provide clues for how a humbler, less grandiose, set of ideas rooted in real lives can help fix some of the things that have gone so badly wrong in recent years.

They travel from muddy fields in the Home Counties to the ports of Plymouth and Hull. They visit the old industrial heartland of Wolverhampton, spend weekends in the worn-down seaside resort of Blackpool, then gaze up the gleaming towers of modernity on the edge of London and the dreaming spires of Oxford. Along the way, they speak with many different people who tell stories of England, including politicians Nigel Farage and David Lammy, campaigner Chrisann Jarrett, playwright James Graham and scientist Sarah Gilbert.

What emerges is a startlingly fresh and vivid picture of a country that belongs to everyone, or at least, to no one in particular.

By: Tom Baldwin, Marc Stears
Imprint: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 153mm,
ISBN: 9781526646231
ISBN 10: 1526646234
Pages: 368
Publication Date: 25 April 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Tom Baldwin is a political writer who worked in Westminster and Washington for The Times before becoming director of communications for the Labour Party. He is the author of several books and is the biographer of Keir Starmer. Marc Stears is the inaugural Director of the UCL Policy Lab. He was previously Director of the Sydney Policy Lab, a Professor of Political Theory at the University of Oxford and chief speechwriter to the Labour Party.