Books

A tour through six centuries of looking back to the past, from the EU Referendum to the English Reformation.

From politicians who draw on nostalgia for the ‘Blitz spirit’ to reminiscences of an era when Britannia ruled the waves, England is a nation obsessed with its past, yearning for the stability and certainty of a vanished golden age that never quite existed.

Nostalgia, however, has a long history. For more than five hundred years politicians, poets, novelists, and social commentators have mourned the loss of old England, and called for a revival of simpler, better ways of life. Beginning with an exploration of nostalgia in the 21st century, Hannah Rose Woods delves back in time to uncover the nostalgias of the past.