Rule, Nostalgia

Reviews

Rule, Nostalgia announces Woods as one of the most interesting new historians of her generation Eye-opening and thoughtful... Woods has a bright future ahead of her A dark history of nostalgia... a timely book... Woods selects and deploys her material well, persuading the reader, in the course of an enjoyable book, that a feeling full of sweetness and sadness is also a dark and dangerous force Hannah Rose Woods explores how illusory and contested golden ages have haunted Britain since medieval times... [An] intelligent and eminently readable book I heartily recommend Rule, Nostalgia. [It] helps explain where we are, as well as where we came from Fascinating and timely, Rule, Nostalgia is an eye-opening history of Britain's enduring fixation with its own past Our national story is so much stranger than we think: this book brilliantly insists that we look at it afresh Well-argued, timely and hugely entertaining. A great piece of popular history A great, scholarly history, and so searingly relevant An utterly eye-opening and enthralling debut, clearly laying out our uniquely British obsession with nostalgia. Required reading for anyone who wants to use the term 'culture war'... I absolutely loved it A smart, entertaining and meticulously researched backwards look (quite literally) at Britain's history of looking over its shoulder. Deconstructs the lure of the fictitious 'good old days' and how they have been weaponised throughout history. Excellent Outstanding. A thrilling, elegant and highly original interrogation of how we use our pasts Nostalgia was once considered a terminal condition. Hannah Woods suggests that the culture needs to book itself in for a check-up. Provocative and well-argued, Rule, Nostalgia offers the diagnosis that might lead us to a cure A triumphal backwards tour through the history of Britain's relationship with its own past. This funny, sad, wise and brilliantly informative book is a crash course in the many pasts that have made our presents A sharp new history of longing for the good old days. Hannah Rose Woods pens a rich account of all that has been lost to chauvinism and conservatism over the past decade A must read for anyone wanting to see current events and ideologies in light of the past, and understand where the roots of our sense of a nation originated Woods is a sharp, iconoclastic writer... A great book Rule, Nostalgia is radiant with an enthusiast's passion for their subject, and makes a convincing case that Britain's history is sufficiently weird, fascinating and marvellous, without rewriting it into comforting fables Indispensible and fascinating An impressive book that ranges from the 16th-century Reformation to Brexit Rule, Nostalgia is a triumphal backwards tour through the history of Britain's relationship with its own past, a chronicle of our state of perpetual longing for a paradise just gone. Woods' eye is ironic, but never without sympathy as she teases apart the nested structures of mourning and nostalgia on which out national identity is built. This funny, sad, wise and brilliantly informative book is both a plea for historiographical literacy and a crash course in the many pasts that have made our presents I love this book, a witty, acerbic but warm look at how our national character is built on yearning for a glorious past that is just gone, and actually probably never existed. Nostalgia ain't what it used to be Expand reviews