Penultimate Adventures with Britannia: Personalities, Politics and Culture in Britain

A rich and varied collection from leading scholars and writers, edited with skill and sensitivity by one of the greatest historians of empire. It provides a vivid vignette of modern cultural, literary, intellectual and political life. Penultimate Adventures with Britannia takes the reader on an engaging and fascinating journey through British society and its interaction with other cultures. It covers the cultural and literary themes but also the political, and while the collection does not shrink from conflict, there are always fascinating by-ways. 

The First World War is a massive theme but with glances behind the scenes, for example with Susan Pedersen's "Frances Stevenson" and Martin Gilbert's "Tolkien." The British Empire is enlivened with Bernard Porter's "The British Empire and British Culture" while Priaya Satia's "The Cultural Foundation of British Power in Iraq" brings in current international concerns, as do Geoffrey Wheatcroft's "The Partitions of India and Ireland" and Dane Kennedy's "The New American Empire." Literary and artistic themes are important and have political and historical relevance. These include Hilary Spurling's "Reassessing Paul Scott," Larry Carver on "Felix Topolski" and Martin Francis on "Cecil Beaton" while Felipe Fernandez Armesto’s original and stimulating essay "An Accidental Criminal" rounds off this remarkably rich and rewarding volume.