In the original dustsheet. Black board binding with silver title on the spine.

• F.B.A. provides an in-depth photographic presentation of this item to stimulate your feeling and touch. More traditional book descriptions are immediately available.

Why do we still get misty-eyed about England’s green and pleasant land?

What explains our obsession with country houses – from the National Trust to Downton Abbey?

Why do we still dream of a place in the country?

In this delightful book Roy Strong explores the definition of Englishness. Celebrating our literature, music, art, gardening and drama, Strong identifies those icons and traditions that still speak to us – it is a vision of England that is inclusive and relevant for everybody living in the country today.

Reviews

• “Compelling and essential… It is so uplifting to read… An answer, one among many, to the deconstructors and under-cutters of the very idea of Englishness… It is based on conviction and experience” (Financial Times)

• “We should be grateful to Sir Roy Strong for this book. It is an exploration of the themes that shape our sense of England: a meditation, a hymn, a road map” (Clive Aslet Country Life)

• “Insightful and provocative… Strong’s emphasis on the pastoral tradition is a valuable reminder of the essential continuity that binds together English history” (Dominic Sandbrook Prospect)

• “For someone who would like to know what it is to feel identifiably English, Sir Roy provides a useful tour” (Simon Heffer Spectator)

• A major contribution to the debate about English identity that locates the roots of Englishness in the cultural imagination.

The Author –  Sir Roy Strong was director of the National Portrait Gallery from 1967 to 1971 and director of the Victoria & Albert Museum from 1974 to 1987, when he became a full-time writer, broadcaster and consultant. His books include The Story of Britain, The Arts in Britain, Coronation: A History of Kingship and the British Monarchy and, most recently, A Little History of the English Country Church.

Sir Roy Colin Strong, CH, FRSL (born 23 August 1935) is an English art historian, museum curator, writer, broadcaster and landscape designer. He has served as director of both the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Strong was knighted in 1982.