In this acclaimed study of British statehood, identity and culture, Tom Nairn deftly dispels the conviction that the Royal Family is nothing more than an amusing relic of feudalism or a mere tourist attraction. Instead, he argues that the monarchy is both apex and essence of the British state, the symbol of a national backwardness. In this fully updated edition, Nairn's powerful and bitterly comic prose lays bare Britain's peculiar, pseudo-modern, national identity--which remains stubbornly fixated on the Crown and its constitutional framework, the "parliamentary sovereignty" of Westminster.
Author Biography
Tom Nairn (1932-2023) was one of the UK's most gifted left-wing thinkers and a towering radical imagination. His books included The Break-Up of Britain, The Enchanted Glass: Britain and Its Monarchy and The Left Against Europe?
