Watching the English

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What to expect

THE BESTSELLING MODERN CLASSIC. OVER HALF A MILLION COPIES SOLD.

'Brilliant and hilarious' GRAYSON PERRY
'A delightful read' SUNDAY TIMES
'Laugh out loud' MARTIN PARR
'Absolutely brilliant' JENNIFER SAUNDERS
'An entertaining, clever book' TELEGRAPH

*WITH A NEW FOREWORD BY GRAYSON PERRY*

The unofficial guidebook to the English national character by anthropologist Kate Fox.


From the class system to conversation etiquette, Kate Fox picks apart and exposes the bizarre codes of behaviour that the English unconsciously obey.


If you are English, this book will make you re-examine everything you take for granted. And if you aren't English, it will help you navigate the rules of this peculiar culture.

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READERS LOVE WATCHING THE ENGLISH:

'A hugely enjoyable read . . . If you want to be really cheered up and entertained with some well-crafted observation of the embarrassingly familiar then do read this book - it's a joy.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

'A great read for lovers of sociology, language and anthropology.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

'A very thought-provoking and insightful book. It draws to your attention all the intricacies of class distinction and underlying humour that pervades almost everything we do.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐


©2004 Kate Fox (P)2020 Hodder & Stoughton Ltd

Critics Review

An absolutely brilliant examination of English culture and how foreigners take as complete mystery the things we take for granted.
The Times
She has not only compiled a comprehensive list of English qualities, she has examined them in depth and wondered how we came to acquire them. Her book is a delightful read.
Sunday Times
I loved the section on mobile-phone etiquette. Shrewd...I liked the chapter on English humour. This is an entertaining, clever book. Do read it and then pass it on.
Telegraph
Kate Fox's brilliant idea is to treat the British as another tribe...where she's particularly astute is in examining the exact pattern of clichés. Any study of the English must cover our class obsession, and Fox deals with the subject thoroughly.
Harry Mount, author of How England Made the English
If you like this kind of anthropology (and I do) there is a wealth of it to enjoy in this book. Her observations are acute... fortunately she doesn't write like an anthropologist but like an English woman - with amusement, not solemnity, able to laugh at herself as well as us.
Daily Mail
Brilliant and hilarious
I read it cover to cover in a few days . . . very sharp and witty prose. It really is funny - the sort of humour that makes you laugh out loud on your own!
Vice
She is the only popular UK anthropologist of substance since the 1970s.
She's a witty and eloquent writer whose accessible book reads as a scholarly classification of our shared codes of behaviour and an affectionate homage to our foibles.
Metro
It is consistently the most popular text I teach, not only because it's a hilarious page-turner but also because Fox offers truly insightful glimpses into what a sophisticated anthropological mindset can reveal about human cultural life . . . Watching the English embodies the anthropological credo of making the strange familiar and the familiar strange.

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