Darkest England

Symbolism is the thing in which to catch the patches of the King. How 'Men of Wisdom' may operate. Something for England to emulate. Chapter Thirty Page 281. Heisenberg Wasn't so Original... Quotes from page 287. 'This supposed madness is never more in evidence than when the English are imparting in......more

Originally wanderers and warriors, the English have certainly changed with the times. They’ve used their Asian tales and traditions and English noggins plus anything and everything to succeed as businessmen, writers, diplomats and thinkers. This quintessentially English book about the English by an......more

I read 'Darkest England' because I've been reading each new edition of Idries Shah's work as it was released. I bought it without enthusiasm. I'm not English, and I resented the way a few English people used this book as ammunition to promote Brexit, which was the last thing we needed in the part of......more

The first of Shah's anthropological trilogy regarding the English. In it he addresses our strengths and our faults, as individuals and as a culture, but in such a humorous way that it's easy to forget that it underlines a number of salient and significant points that are worth noting. For me it was......more

In Darkest England, Idries Shah makes us see England as though it were an foreign culture. And in doing so makes apparently mundane habits, "exotic" - and by doing so helps us see cultures, our own and that of others, more objectively. An amusing and heartfelt romp, with moments of great insight, th......more