Where We Are: The State of Britain Now

Description

WINNER OF THE CATHOLIC HERALD BOOK AWARD Where We Are is philosopher Roger Scruton's personal response to the consequences of the 2017 'Brexit' vote. This concise, engaging book is neither an argument to 'leave' nor to 'remain' but develops instead some fundamental ideas: What is national identity? What defines our country? Who are we and what holds us together? As Scruton argues, these are the most important political questions of our time, and all across Europe people are beginning to ask them. This book is essential reading for anyone, of whatever political persuasion, interested in what it means to be British, what that might come to mean in future and how we will define our place in a rapidly changing world.

Sir Roger Scruton is widely seen as one of the greatest conservative thinkers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and a polymath who wrote a wide array of fiction, non-fiction and reviews. He was the author of over fifty books. A graduate of Jesus College, Cambridge, Scruton was Professor of Aesthetics at Birkbeck College, London and a visiting professor at Oxford University. Scruton died in January 2020.

While everyone else panics and reacts, Scruton thinks. And produces answers. * Douglas Murray * Scruton, a political philosopher who was formerly professor of aesthetics at Birkbeck College, has such a harmonious writing style that one could almost imagine this essay being set to music ... I found this strangely moving, and that's more than can be said for your standard work of political philosophy. * Dominic Lawson, Sunday Times * A worthwhile description of how nationhood could help us regain a feeling of community, without sparking the surge in national chauvinism that EU supporters claim would result. * Daily Telegraph * We need a national debate about the kind of country we now hope to be; and we need it now. It is at such moments that nations turn to their philosophers ... High on any such list is Sir Roger Scruton ... At the heart of Scrutonian thought, however, lies the insight encapsulated in the title of his latest book: Where We Are. For this is above all an analysis of what we mean by a sense of place, of identity, of country. * Daniel Johnson, Editor, Standpoint *