Rule, Nostalgia - A Backwards History of Britain

** A FINANCIAL TIMES, NEW STATESMAN AND GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE YEAR **

''A must read for anyone wanting to understand where the roots of our sense of a nation originated'' - Janina Ramirez, bestselling author of Femina

''A sharp new history of longing for the good old days'' - Financial Times

''Our national story is so much stranger than we think: this book brilliantly insists that we look at it afresh'' - James Hawes, bestselling author of The Shortest History of England
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How has nostalgia shaped Britain?

Modern politicians implore us to draw on the ''Blitz Spirit'' of wartime Britain, post-war Britons mourned the lost innocence of Edwardian life, anxious Edwardians longed to return to a golden era of Victorian optimism, while Victorian artists dreamt of retreating to a medieval, pre-industrial age.