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The Break-Up of Britain:Crisis and Neo-Nationalism
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Paperback (1981)
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A defining study of British history and politics
In this classic text, first published in 1977, Tom Nairn memorably depicts the ‘slow foundering’ of the United Kingdom on the rocks of imperial decline, constitutional anachronism and the gathering force of civic nationalism.
Rich in comparisons between the nationalisms of the British Isles and those of the wider world, thoughtful in its treatment of the interaction between nationality and social class, The Break-Up of Britain concludes with a bravura essay on the Janus-faced nature of national identity. Postscripts from the Thatcher and Blair years trace the political strategies whose upshot accelerated the demise of a British state they were intended to serve.
As a second Scottish independence referendum beckons, a new Introduction by Anthony Barnett underlines the book’s enduring relevance.
Reviews
The most forceful and original mind to confront, demask and anatomise the British state. The perception that Great Britain was a multinational state and not a united nation had never quite been lost over the centuries, but it was Tom Nairn who almost single-handedly hammered this truth into the skull of British intellectuals and campaigners until it became – as it is today – practically uncontested by the political class
The Break-Up of Britain is Tom Nairn’s greatest book. A potent and long-lasting challenge
Tom Nairn pioneered critical retrospect of the United Kingdom, and scandalised people by looking forward calmly to its disintegration. This in a style of extraordinary vigour and beauty – and not least humour: writing as democratic as his own unswerving politics
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Tom Nairn’s fundamental insight was to recognise that the United Kingdom was an imperial construct, and that the ties that once bound the people of these islands were fraying
New Statesman -
More than anyone else, Tom Nairn has shaped how we think about the United Kingdom and its creaking constitutional architecture. The national conversation he started, the national journey he so profoundly shaped in his work, is far from over
Herald -
Powerful and prophetic. Nairn is perhaps Britain’s most perceptive and ambitious national storyteller, an audaciously creative stylist.
, Rory Scothorne -
Combines often stunning writing with immense knowledge of literature, history, and political philosophy ... Nairn has made a priceless contribution towards a desperately needed new discourse.
The Hindu -
The most significant book on British politics of the past half-century
, openDemocracy