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.
