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| The Anglo Files: A Field Guide to the British | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 41 reviews)
Sales Rank: 6682
Category: Book
Author: Sarah Lyall
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Studio: W. W. Norton
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
Label: W. W. Norton
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2
ISBN: 0393058468
Dewey Decimal Number: 941.086
EAN: 9780393058468
ASIN: 0393058468
Publication Date: August 18, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Dispatches from the new Britain: a slyly funny and compulsively readable portrait of a nation finally refurbished for the twenty-first century.
Sarah Lyall, a reporter for the New York Times, moved to London in the mid-1990s and soon became known for her amusing and incisive dispatches on her adopted country. As she came to terms with its eccentric inhabitants (the English husband who never turned on the lights, the legislators who behaved like drunken frat boys, the hedgehog lovers, the people who extracted their own teeth), she found that she had a ringside seat at a singular transitional era in British life. The roller-coaster decade of Tony Blair's New Labor government was an increasingly materialistic time when old-world symbols of aristocratic privilege and stiff-upper-lip sensibility collided with modern consumerism, overwrought emotion, and a new (but still unsuccessful) effort to make the trains run on time. Appearing a half-century after Nancy Mitford's classic Noblesse Oblige, Lyall's book is a brilliantly witty account of twenty-first-century Britain that will be recognized as a contemporary classic.
"The Anglo Files should be handed out, as a public service, in the immigration line at Heathrow." -Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink
"When Sarah Lyall married an Englishman and moved to London ten years ago, few around her realized she was a modern-day Tocqueville?otherwise they would have been much more guarded. The happy result is The Anglo Files, a razor-sharp, hilarious, wickedly insightful, decidedly biased account of Everything British."? Graydon Carter, editor of Vanity Fair
"Superb social and cultural anthropology by a reporter who has lived among her subjects without losing her sense of wonder for them. Imagine Margaret Mead channeling Jon Stewart and you have Sarah Lyall."?Eric Lax, author of Conversations with Woody Allen
"Sarah Lyall brings all the virtues of the best American journalism, including accuracy, to the task of analysing all the vices of British society, including hypocrisy, venality and hopeless confusion about sex. She will now be hailed as one of England's supreme analysts, preparatory to her being executed on Tower Green."?Clive James, author of Cultural Amnesia
"For years now Sarah Lyall has been the wittiest observer of the English and their curious habits. Now she's written a book that takes her game to an entirely new level. It's funny, it's delightful and anyone with even a passing interest in these strange people should read it." -Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball
"By turns wry, mordant, affectionate, bitter and sweet. I never miss any of her dispatches because, while they manage to remind me why I left, they also contrive to make me feel occasionally homesick." -Christopher Hitchens, author of God Is Not Great
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| Customer Reviews: Read 36 more reviews...
A right good show by Yank journalist January 9, 2009
Oscar Wilde once said that the unfortunate thing about rumors is that so many of them are true. Sarah Lyall's ANGLO FILES validates -- in fact, zestily revels in -- many aspects of Modern Britain, how it got that way, and to what extent the old ways still live on, though modified. Many aspects of British life continue to soldier on in some fashion: The House of Lords now contains women, but it mutters and natters almost as much as in the past. Pronunciation is still a giveaway to class standing. Aristocracy with sixteen-letter surnames still whittle them down to "Chumley" and such like. And even in today's "Cool Britannia," lots of people still make a World War II-era fetish of frugality: the Queen allegedly gathers soap chips from throughout the Palace, and Brits who can afford better hesitate to switch on the lights until they're in dead dark. And the weather is not only dreadful, but more dreadful than most Americans can imagine, she says.
So what has changed? A broader economy and the blessings of membership in the European Union have brought refugees from poorer member states into the U.K., where they find employment in the burgeoning retail segments. An explosion of supermarket chains like Tesco and Sainsbury's now provides an almost bewildering array of food options, quite unlike the little corner grocers that have grown obsolescent. Cheap air fares lure travelers into hitherto-obscure regions of the EU; but sadly, along with that, go mobs of football (soccer) hooligans in search of cheap brew and wide screens. Even so, better than staying at home: Lyall avers that even the best British hotels remain scandalously delinquent at providing the amenities (like heat!) for their patrons, who are treated more as nuisances than as guests.
Lyall's tone is engaging and witty, and she enlivens even fairly ordinary hanging-around or changing-times journalism with her quick wit, fond wordplay and satiric American point of view. Only on a couple of occasions did I find her straining for effect, as when she reminds us that Lady Godiva, once an exhibitionist, is "now a brand of chocolate." After all, it is a British sin to be too "elaborately casual," so we must fault her when she's caught violating the rules of understatement she celebrates. Lyall overuses the word "baseline" to mean something like "the way it was" or "the status quo hitherto pertaining," sociological cant that is not up to her usual standard. IMHO Lyall also lays too much stress on the explosive quality of the Nineties improvement in British retailing; yes, the change was quick but it had been a-building, with vertical malls and multi-story car parks going up under Margaret Thatcher, in country towns, in the 1980s. (Sometimes it is urban enclaves that resist novelty the most -- perhaps this was true of Central London, Lyall's hangout.)
Still, if you're in the mood for a comic inquisition of the British, their eccentricities, weird behavior and enduring heroism, this is a good book to have. Or, as the British might put it, read ANGLO FILES and you'll find your parsnips have been well buttered.
 So why is she there? January 4, 2009
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
That is the question I kept asking myself through out the time I wasted reading this book. I too am an American who lived in Britain, albeit not as long as the author has, but I also married a Brit and have been an admirer and studier of their culture for thirty years. I was hoping to learn something new here but instead found reading it an exercise in how to raise one's blood pressure. If life in Britain is as miserable as she would have you believe then why is she still there? My feeling is that this book was written as a result of sour grapes on the part of a New York Times reporter who is peeved because she can't get the story or has not worked out how to relate to her British counterparts in order to get the facts she needs to be successful in her work.
I was offended that she spent nearly an entire chapter discussing the "hidden" sexuality of English men. Isn't she married to one? Is he secretly gay? Just because a culture finds men in drag to be humorous does not mean they all live in the closet. I personally find men dressed as women funny as does some straight American men I know so I guess we should be questioning our sexuality, if we were to believe the author's criteria for judging such things. Europeans in general are more open about sexuality and of all types too but are less accepting of acts of violence in entertainment. Maybe this is something we need to examine about ourselves as Americans.
And yes, there is still a class system in Britain. What would you expect in a nation that still has a Monarchy? But to say that Brits in general have a problem with other people's success is unfair. How do you account for the readership of celebrity magazines such as "Hello" and "OK" and for the popularity of American programs which feature rich, successful people? And to use EastEnders as an example to prove that Americans would not stand for a soap opera about "dreary poor people" proves that this author has been away from America too long and needs to get a grip on reality. EastEnders is shown on PBS stations across the country and whats more, viewers donate money to keep the show on. Current EastEnders episodes are also available on PayPerView and I for one am happy to pay the $9.99 a month to view the "dreary poor people." It is certainly more interesting and down to earth than the spoiled, rich people on "Days of Our Lives" and god help us, "Passions."
More evidence that proves the author has been away from America too long is the point she made about her neighbors lack of communication. I would like to invite her to my neighborhood where not only do we not speak to each other but the only time we come out of our homes is to get in our cars to drive to the mall or work. In fact, I have lived beside neighbors for four years now who still do not know my name, nor do I know theirs. And this type of behavior is no longer the exception in our country.
I could go on but then I would be turning this review into a novella I'm afraid. I was hard-pressed to give this book even one star but I think it is deserved just for the time and effort it took to write. But I would invite the author to examine America with the same tainted glasses she chose to look at Britain through. This book will satisfy the American who still has a superiority complex but for the reader who is willing to examine other countries with open eyes and an open mind, this isn't the book for you. I would suggest "Postcards from Across the Pond" by Mike Harling, for a more well-rounded, less skeptical view. And if you want to learn more positive things about Britain and meet others who do too, visit my blog at www.smittenbybritain.com
 The dust jacket is misleading December 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Having lived in England for a number of years, I was very much looking forward to reading this book and revisiting a country that I love via armchair. The description on the dust jacket made the book sound much like Bill Bryson's writings on England, humorous and clever. The actual book is comprised of 250+ pages of complaining of things about which anyone who has spent time in England already knows. It rains incessantly...yes, we know. The British are very reserved people who prefer to communicate by letter, and if forced to interact verbally, would prefer to limit their conversational subjects to the weather...yes, we know. The House of Lords was peopled with hereditary peers who had no true qualifications for serving in office and were often eccentric to say the least...yes, we KNOW. But where, in other writers' hands, those facts have been discussed in a way that still views England with affection, in this book, those same facts are used to make England seem like a place one would never want to visit. Reading this book made me sad and annoyed. I didn't have a problem with the writing itself nor with the facts themselves, but if the dust jacket had provided a realistic idea of what the book was actually like, I would never have bought it. It's not funny in any respect. I think the publishers owe me a refund for false advertising.
 Oh, to be in England! December 23, 2008
Sarah Lyall has given us poor colonials a wonder, funny, and dead-on accurate depiction of our UK cousins. I literally could not put down this wee tome down until I finished it--laughing much of the way--in a single sitting.
A subject too good to be so bad December 20, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Yes, some of the anecdotes were interesting, but my initial infatuation with the idea of this book was not backed up by writing that was superbly entertaining. Its dry, journalistic style grew boring after only two chapters. In fact, the farther I got into the book, I started to fall asleep after several pages every time I picked it up. And, not to mention, then there were so many opinions espoused that bordered on ridiculous.
Because the author is a journalist, her book would have been better if she'd turned some of her editorial and critical abilities on herself and her smugness. Secondly, a less high-brow albeit New York Post-y style could have done wonders. The book specializes in observing and analyzing various vices and oddities of British society, and the far-from-seamless transitions sometimes were as subtle as a gut punch. Lastly, since Sarah Lyall positions herself as an arbiter in cross-pond politicking, socializing, and moralizing, what reasons should I accept her as moral authority, aside from her ny times job, which hardly recommends her? The most disapointing thing about the author's point of view is her contention that the U.S. still produces journalism superior to the British "just as the U.S. Congress is duller but somehow more respectable than British parliament, so American newspapers are generally less amusing but more trustworthy than British ones." (p. 50.) Umm, who is her fact checker, Jayson Blair? One would think someone of her supposed stature would see the United States journalism as it is: a venal den of schlock, cheezy hollywood celeb news, scare tactics, and laced with falsities. Nonetheless, as snooty as the author's opinion comes accross, thanks to her for writing the book, and I just hope there wont be a sequel.
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