Albion

The Origins of the English Imagination

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by Peter Ackroyd

Bantam Doubleday Dell

Due/Published November 2003, 560 pages, cloth

ISBN 0385497725

Ackroyd again plumbs the history of England and uncovers the continuities that link past and present. An exploration of English culture from its roots in the Anglo-Saxon period to the present day, Albion demonstrates that a quintessentially English quality imbues every form of cultural expression--not just literature, but also painting, music, architecture, philosophy, and science.

In an intricately crafted mixture of narrative and theme, Ackroyd travels through time and across cultural categories as he seeks out the roots and the essence of the English imagination. With an irrepressible curiosity and contagious enthusiasm, he moves from Beowulf to Virginia Woolf, Hogarth to Hockney, Purcell to Vaughan Williams, Inigo Jones to Edward Lutyens. His lively biographical sketches and incisive exegeses of the work of figures both well known and less familiar deepen our understanding and appreciation of our inherited culture. Albion contains unexpected treasures, including a look at immigration and assimilation as well as a digression into the English obsession with gardening. Black-and-white photographs and drawings, and two lavish four-color inserts add visual appeal.