James Hawes: The Shortest History of England

The Book Club | 18 November 2020 | 0h 43m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with James Hawes about his book The Shortest History of England. Discusses why there’s real value in so brief an overview of our history, how Jurassic rock formations determined UK politics, why the English never got over the Norman Conquest, how the break-up of the Union is now an inevitability, and why the Cross of St George is a funny emblem for English nationalists to rally behind.

1 thought on “James Hawes: The Shortest History of England

  1. Lots of unexpected and intriguing propositions here. For instance, the experience of the replacement of a native elite by a foreign elite in the Norman conquest has resulted in a perennial anti-elite tendency in English society, and that the Received Pronunciation plays the same role as a class signifier as Norman French. Could be true, but doesn’t anti-elitism exist in other cultures?

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