We see that javascript is disabled or not supported by your browser - javascript is needed for important actions on the site. Read more

What's New - Home - Login

Member $avings: $81,590,749.50 | Books Available: 786,807 | Members Online: 205

Swap Used Books - Buy New Books at Great Prices!

How To Swap Books Sign Up Search submenu

PBS Market (New Books)

Gift Buying Guide

Book Browser Advanced Search Books Posted Today Member Book Reviews Award Winning Books NYT Best Sellers Amazon Best Sellers Most Traveled Copies Club Wish List

Discussion Forums Book Lists

Club Lists My Book Lists My Watched Lists Create a List

Blog Donations

School Donation Program In Memory of... Military Donation Program Friends of PBS

Box-O-Books Maps The Eclectic Pen Fun Stuff

20 Questions Sudoku Bookmark Creator

Top 100

Requests Posts Swappers Referrers Reviewers

Pulse of PBS Spread The Word

Invite Friends Bookmarks Facebook Page Facebook App More Ways...

Photo Gallery Recipes Club Tag Cloud Member Testimonials

Help Center submenu

How To Swap Books Browse Help Docs Ask the Librarian PBS Member Icons Live Help

Kiosk

PBS Market (New Books) Go Shopping Buy Credits Buy PBS Money Upgrade Membership Gift Certificates Transfer Credits

Need Help?

Search - The Rough Guide to Britain, 3rd Edition (Rough Guides)

The Rough Guide to Britain 3rd Edition - Rough Guides
Author: Robert Andrews, Jules Brown, Rob Humphreys, Phil Lee, Mike Parker

INTRODUCTION — There's a decidedly upbeat air about Britain today. In the vibrant music scene, in its fashionable new restaurants, bars and clubs, and in a burgeoning film industry, there's a buzz, a "feel-good" factor, heralded by the press as "Cool Britannia". And yet in many respects, this cool new world isn't s... more »o new: Britain has maintained its creative momentum consistently from the "Swinging Sixties" to the present day. From The Beatles to Oasis, from Hockney to Hirst, there's always been an innovative flair to British popular culture, which contrasts sharply with the bucolic view of Britain that many of us favour. The countryside may yield all manner of delights, from walkers' trails around the hills and lakes, through prehistoric stone circles, to traditional villages and their pubs; but Britain's urban culture - amongst the most characterful and multi-ethnic in Europe - is fast becoming as popular a draw as its countryside and its history have ever been.

Yet the monuments to the past are still a major part of Britain's attraction - in the cities and in its many ancient towns, especially in England, the dominant and most urbanized member of the British partnership. Virtually every town bears a mark of former wealth and power, whether it be a Gothic cathedral financed from a monarch's treasury, a parish church funded by the tycoons of medieval trade, or a triumphalist Victorian civic building, raised on the income of the British Empire. In the south of England you'll find old dockyards from which the navy patrolled the oceans, while in the north there are mills that employed whole town populations. Britain's museums and galleries - several of them ranking among the world's finest - are full of treasures trawled from Europe and farther afield. And in their grandiose stuccoed terraces and wide esplanades the old resorts bear testimony to the heyday of the British holiday towns, when Brighton, Bath and diverse other towns were as fashionable and elegant as any European spa.

In Wales and in Scotland - the two other countries which, along with Northern Ireland, constitute Great Britain* - there is a marked contrast with their English neighbour. As soon as you cross the border into predominantly rural Wales, you are aware that you have entered a Celtic land; and in Scotland - a land whose absorption into Britain was a rather more recent event - the presence of a profoundly non-English worldview is just as striking. In both countries there are areas in which the ancient language predominates, and in both there's an active nationalist movement striving to convert a cultural identity into political terms. In 1997, nationalist feeling finally held sway when both the Scots and the Welsh voted for a devolution of power from the London-based British government. As yet it is unclear exactly how much power will move to the two new legislative bodies: although the Scots have always retained a separate legal and educational system, and will now have the power to levy Scottish taxes independently of London, little seems likely to change for the Welsh, who will remain - despite devolution - more securely subservient to a country that's been in control for some seven hundred years.

*Northern Ireland, constitutionally part of the United Kingdom, is a region to explore in conjunction with the rest of the island of Ireland. If that's your destination, you'll want a copy of The Rough Guide to Ireland, the most comprehensive guidebook to the Republic and the North.

ISBN-13: 9781858285139
ISBN-10: 1858285135
Publication Date: 5/1/2000
Pages: 1,184
Edition: 3
Rating:

0 stars, based on 0 rating

Publisher: Rough Guides
Book Type: Paperback
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

Genres:

Travel >> Europe >> Great Britain >> General
Travel >> Guidebook Series >> Rough Guide

Back to the Top ↑

Search - The Rough Guide to Britain, 3rd Edition (Rough Guides)

Loading...