Anthony Sampson’s Anatomy of Britain in 1962 was a success with many follow-ups until Who Runs This Place? The Anatomy of Britain in the 21st Century in 2004; last in the series as Samson died that year.
I am reading Anatomy of a Nation, a History of British Identity in 50 Documents by Dominic Selwood. If I’d written this it would have started with Magna Carta and gone drearily through documents like Charles I’s death sentence, a bit of Pepys and covered ground well trodden. As I’m only on page sixty-five I have cheated and looked at the Contents. Actually he does include Charles I’s death warrant but the other entries cast light on the development of this sceptred isle through unexpected documents.
I struggled with the origins of mankind reading anthropology in the 1970s. Dominic explains it clearly and succinctly. If I may digress, I found Social Anthropology more interesting. Folk jumping into canoes in Polynesia, taking gifts to their neighbours and swigging strong liquor out of coconuts; shepherds in the Middle East moving their flocks up and down as the seasons change; we didn’t do the social anthropology of Britain, whether Brixton or Belgravia, though both would have appealed.
It is a gift to be as well qualified as Dominic and to pass it on with a light touch. He has a doctorate in history from Oxford, a masters from the Sorbonne, is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Society of Antiquaries but he doesn’t put on any dog – think John Julius Norwich style-wise.
I’m on page sixty-five with the Vikings; the document is Odin’s The Sayings of the High One, circa 900 AD. When they weren’t raping and pillaging they wrote a spot of poetry. It’s not a poem really more words of advice: “He is a foolish man who lies awake all night and broods over everything . When morning breaks he is weary and all his trouble is the same as it was.” As true today as in 900 AD.