ANGLO FILES: A Field Guide to the English

'An exquisite, hilarious and devastating dissection. It should be handed out, as a public service, in the immigration line at Heathrow.' - Malcolm Gladwell. Why do the English keep apologising? Why are they so unenthusiastic about enthusiasm? Why does rain surprise them? When are they being ironic, and how can you tell? Even after 18 years in London, New York Times reporter Sarah Lyall remained perplexed and intrigued by its curious inhabitants and their curious customs. She's since returned to the United States (in 2013), but this distillation of incisive - and irreverent - insights, now updated with a new preface, is just as illuminating today, and perhaps even more so, in the wake of Brexit and the attendant national identity crisis. While there may be no easy answer to the question of how, exactly, to understand the English, The Anglo Files - art anthropological field study, part memoir - helps point the way. The book is an hilarious and beautifully observed account of how two cultures are permanently separated by a common language. Paperback, 304 pages, remainder mark.