Reinventing Britain

Britain may have lost its empire and world-beating manufacturing base; it may be dismantling its armed forces and opting for third-division status as a grumbling, inward-looking, semi-detached appendage of the European Union. But I say, look here: There are other kinds of leadership. I'm talking about "Grand Theft Auto" and "Downton Abbey."
Britain's role as an exporter of popular culture is the subject of my seasonal book recommendation -- "The Great British Dream Factory: The Strange History of Our National Imagination," by Dominic Sandbrook. This is a topic of particular interest, I grant you, for a made-in-Britain cultural export such as myself, but I wouldn't draw your attention to the book if I wasn't sure its appeal goes wider than that.
Sandbrook is a historian and journalist -- author of an excellent series of narrative histories of the U.K. since the 1950s. ("Seasons in the Sun," covering 1974-79, is the best thing I've read on the economic and political crisis that led to the election of Margaret Thatcher, the pivotal moment in postwar British history.) All those books are good on cultural background, even though they're mainly about politics. This latest title pulls together the fragments of cultural context, combines them with many more, and examines the whole.
The result is enlightening and provocative, but most of all great fun. Sandbrook has eclectic tastes -- from Black Sabbath to "The Lord of the Rings," from "Coronation Street" to "Phantom of the Opera," Catherine Cookson to Martin Amis, "Chariots of Fire" to "Top Gear."Bloomberg

Reinventing Britain

Britain may have lost its empire and world-beating manufacturing base; it may be dismantling its armed forces and opting for third-division status as a grumbling, inward-looking, semi-detached appendage of the European Union. But I say, look here: There are other kinds of leadership. Im talking about Grand Theft Auto and Downton Abbey. Britains role as an exporter of popular culture is the subject of my seasonal book recommendation -- The Great British Dream Factory: The Strange History of Our National Imagination, by Dominic Sandbrook. This is a topic of particular interest, I grant you, for a made-in-Britain cultural export such as myself, but I wouldnt draw your attention to the book if I wasnt sure its appeal goes wider than that. Sandbrook is a historian and journalist -- author of an excellent series of narrative histories of the U.K. since the 1950s. (Seasons in the Sun, covering 1974-79, is the best thing Ive read on the economic and political crisis that led to the election of Margaret Thatcher, the pivotal moment in postwar British history.) All those books are good on cultural background, even though theyre mainly about politics. This latest title pulls together the fragments of cultural context, combines them with many more, and examines the whole. The result is enlightening and provocative, but most of all great fun. Sandbrook has eclectic tastes -- from Black Sabbath to The Lord of the Rings, from Coronation Street to Phantom of the Opera, Catherine Cookson to Martin Amis, Chariots of Fire to Top Gear.Bloomberg