Rule, Nostalgia: A Backwards History of Britain

In Rule,Nostalgia, historian Catherine Woods explores how the British have long been captivated by their own past, mourning the loss of tradition and calling for a revival of simpler, better ways of life. She separates history from fantasy and traces back the influence of nostalgia on British history, politics, and society.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 400 pages
Publication date: 02 March 2023
Publisher: Ebury Publishing

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

A must-read, according to Janina Ramirez, bestselling author of Femina

An eye-opening history of Britain's enduring fixation with its own past

Jeremy Paxman

Rule, Nostalgia announces Woods as one of the most interesting new historians of her generation

Dan Snow

Longing to go back to the good old days is nothing new. For hundreds of years, the British have mourned the loss of tradition and called for a revival of simpler, better ways of life, from modern politicians indulging in fantasies of an imperial past to Victorian artists yearning to retreat into a medieval dream of Merry England. But were the good old days ever quite how we remember them?

Rule, Nostalgia is a surprising, timely new history of Britain that separates history from fantasy and traces back to its origins the powerful influence that nostalgia's perpetual backwards glance has had on British history, politics and society.

Weight: 272g
Dimension: 126 x 197 x 31 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780753558744