With his characteristic enthusiasm and erudition, Peter Ackroyd follows his acclaimed London: A Biography with an inspired look into the hea...
read full description
reviews
Jan 29, 2012
Joseph N.
rated it: 
Albion traces ideas, images and patterns across the centuries to consider what it means to be English. Any Anglophile will enjoy the many and varied cultural references linked within Ackroyd's dense but fascinating text. Beginning and ending with Englishmen I admire (historian the Venerable Bede (d. 735) and composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (d. 1958)), these two disparate personalities were brought together in one memorable statement: "The embrace of present and past time, in which English a
More...
Sep 02, 2011
The publisher labels this book "History" on the back cover, with a blurb on the front calling it cultural anthropology. While it's certainly not a chronological history of the English imagination, it draws primarily on literary history, making all sorts of intriguing (even if forced) connections. As the subtitle, "The Origins of the English Imagination," suggests, there's more about the Anglo-Saxons and the medieval period than later times--like many history professors, Ackro
More...
Jan 12, 2012
Amanda
rated it: 
Fascinating and detailed analysis of the cultural continuum of Britain, from Beowulf to TS Eliot and medieval motets to Vaughan Williams. It covered a greater scope than I expected (art, architecture, humour, forgery(!), you name it), and I bought in to the hypotheses to a degree which surprised me. Packed full of supporting examples fro original sources, which is great if you want to do further research; I found, again surprisingly, that I was familiar with the majority of them already (when t
More...
Mar 17, 2009
Steve
rated it:
1) There's been a continuity of themes running through English imaginative works since Caedmon was in office.
2) English imaginative works are made up of everybody else's.
2) English imaginative works are made up of everybody else's.
Sep 19, 2007
David
rated it: 
This book has a format similar to another book I read more recently: "The New Spaniards" by John Hooper - a collection of short chapters, each devoted to a specific aspect of "the English Imagination"/"Spanish life", respectively. The success of Hooper's book, in which each chapter was fascinating in its own right, only serves to emphasize the relative weakness of the execution of the concept in Ackroyd's case. A prolific author, he never manages to make this book c
More...
Oct 08, 2007
I finished it! After a good six or seven weeks of reading. Fascinating book that raises at least as many questions as it answers. Sometimes Ackroyd's assertions are a little hard to buy into, and I would have appreciated a little more contrast--when he talked about English preoccupation with the sea, I had to wonder how it was any different from, say, Melville's American preoccupation with the sea. Still, he brings up a lot of topics that are really interesting to think about and feed into f
More...
Dec 16, 2009
Brian
rated it:
Ackroyd is bold with his assertions about English cultural identity, continuity, and historical development, but he's mighty convincing, and even if he's not, he's entertaining. From Alfred to Chaucer to Johnson to Shakespeare, the author gives much attention to the tension between the pagan and the pious, the lewd and the shameful, the campy and the stoic. He also strays from his thesis of continuity to explore how influences from Europe (France, Italy, the Classical World) affected English l
More...
Jan 18, 2008
Jen
rated it:
A lush, dizzingly informative, poetic tribute to and history of the English imagination. Sometimes hard to follow but always fascinating, this book had me hooked from start to finish. Albion will renew your appreciation for the sheer amount of creative energy that continues to flow out of this relatively small island kingdom.
Mar 04, 2008
Exhaustively researched and very compelling, though he may be guilty of over-reaching a bit. Ackroyd has also written several novels, and I am curious to see what such a meticulous historian does with non-fiction.
Sep 25, 2007
Gauloises
rated it:
A highly erudite, original and insightful look at a concept which is quite unfashionable now - nationhood and the idea of a "national imagination". All British people should read this.
Aug 08, 2008
Emma
rated it:
Ackroyd is obviously very knowledgable on his subject but why does he present this tome in such a turgid manner. Reads like an achingly dull PhD thesis.
Aug 22, 2008
Pat
rated it:
The venerable Bede and more.
England's people and history. I love this book.
England's people and history. I love this book.
Feb 12, 2012
Feb 12, 2012
Feb 09, 2012
Feb 09, 2012
Feb 08, 2012
Feb 07, 2012
Feb 04, 2012
Feb 03, 2012
Jan 31, 2012
Jan 31, 2012
Jan 30, 2012
Jan 30, 2012
