'Real England' is an interesting investigation and personal journey into English culture and economics; a nation whose character is being lost to the homogenising forces of globalisation and a top-heavy state. It explores and reveals the loss of the day to day England we've taken for granted. A past England that has been eroded so slowly in front of our eyes, we almost haven't noticed.

 

We see the signs around us every day: the chain cafes and mobile phone outlets that dominate our high streets and the headlines about yet another traditional industry going to the wall. This book makes the connection between these isolated, incremental local changes and the bigger picture of a nation whose identity is being eroded. As he travels around the country meeting farmers, fishermen and the inhabitants of Chinatown, Paul Kingsnorth reports on the kind of conversations that are taking place in country pubs and corner shops across the land - while reminding us that these classic English institutions may soon cease to exist.

 

It is sad to think that the individuality, character and traditions of generations are slowly becoming extinct. These are all the little bits of organically grown culture that make England in any way distinctive. "Flats that look like offices and offices that look like flats," says one protester in the course of this book.  But most of these old traditions, came from the land and people's attachment to it. These days we don't know where we are, or what happens in our landscape, so we can't create new ones. Traditions come from places - from the land, from our relationship to it. Once that's gone, so has that living culture.

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