The Break-Up of Britain [Paperback]

The classic text, with a new introduction by Anthony Barnett

In this classic text, first published in 1977, Tom Nairn memorably depicts the “slow foundering” of the United Kingdom on the rocks of constitutional anachronism, its fall from empire and the gathering force of civic nationalism. Rich in comparisons between the nationalisms of the British Isles and those of the wider world, The Break-Up of Britain concludes by reflecting on the Janus-faced nature of national identity. Postscripts from the Thatcher and New Labour years trace the political strategies whose upshot accelerated the demise of a British order they were intended to serve.

As a second Scottish independence referendum beckons, a new introduction by openDemocracy’s Anthony Barnett underlines the book’s enduring relevance.“The most forceful and original mind to confront, demask and anatomise the British state.”
—Neal Ascherson, London Review of Books

“A luminous guide to the morbidities unleashed by the relentless machinery of post-imperial decline.”
—Paul Gilroy

“Tom Nairn pioneered critical retrospect of the United Kingdom, and scandalised people by looking forward calmly to its disintegration.”
—Perry Anderson

“A creative intellectual toolkit for a political emergency, assisting Scots, Welsh and English democrats alike to finally break the chains of Westminster.”
—Hilary Wainwright

“Densely and brilliantly argued … original and perceptive.”
—Economist