Reviews

Everyman's England by Victor Canning

persey's review against another edition

3.0

This should have been just my thing, a travelogue set in 1930s England. But offsetting evocative descriptions of places in time was a tone that was sometimes condescension masquerading as appreciation plus a certain sour snarkiness. Slight and certainly not as transporting as I expected.

grotesquearistocracy's review against another edition

5.0

this book is a charming look at the many places and people in england, and it is certainly enjoyable. complete with great writing to describe scenery and unforgettable tidbits of his travels, it does not fail to emphasize the contrast between rural and modern in a fastly changing world, especially during the 20th century, specifically the 1930s, on the brink of ww2. i especially like how he focuses on the more obscure places of england, and it made me really want to tread on the lands he did. on many instances did i open google earth on the places he mentioned and walked around it using street view to try to feel what he felt. it was interesting to see his descriptions of towns of england back in the 30s, and go to google earth and see the same towns to check if anything changed (it almost always does). the little hint-dropping of places and towns for people to find and not saying the names in fear of more people flocking is understandable and a fact i relate to.

overall, this book paints a wonderful picture of the people and towns of england during a time where change from traditional to modern is beginning to grow rampant, and it elicits a wondrous excitement and curiosity in the reader, or at least, to me. tl;dr, wonderful