Anglomania: A European Love Affair

Mr Buruma's fluency - the ease and erudition with which he mixes anecdote , personal reminiscence, and reportage - should not disguise the seriousness of his book...Readable and intelligent - The EconomistTo some, England has long represented tolerance, reason, and political moderation. To others, it is a bastion of snobbery and outdated tradition. Ian Buruma, can speak from both sides of the English Channel. Born and educated in Holland, as the son of a Dutch father and a mother whose family left Germany for Britain and became passionate admirers of their adopted country, he provides an illuminating look at Anglophilia - and Anglophobia - over the last two hundred years.From England's most vociferous fans, Voltaire and Goethe, to grateful political exiles like Herzen and Garibaldi, to notable England-bashers like Napoleon, Marx, and Kaiser Wilhelm II, Anglomania gives a sharply satirical look at Europe's sometimes comical, sometimes deadly prejudices. And as England, at the close of the twentieth century, yokes its political and economic future to that of the Continent, Anglomania's themes - what makes England different from Europe, and what they have in common - remain as vital as ever.