Anglophile Reviews: Britannia in Brief Review

The first post in our weeklong series for Britannia in Brief week is my review of the book. In short, the book is awesome.

My only complaint is that this is the book about Britain that I’ve always wanted to write and they’ve gotten to it first!

Britannia in Brief is simply an encyclopedia of facts about the UK. It was written by couple Leslie Banker and William Mullins. Leslie is an American while William is the Brit. One thing she realized was that most Americans have no idea how life is in the UK and decided that it was time there was a guide.

And it’s a great guide at that. The book is broken up into chapters related to Geography, Society, Culture, Politics, Language, food and much more. Each chapter is easy to read and the facts are fascinating. I consider myself to be pretty knowledgeable on the subject and I still learned quite a bit about the UK that I didn’t know before.

This book is a must read for anyone considering moving to the UK. This book will help make the transition to life in the UK much smoother as it will kill many of the common misconceptions Americans have about Britain as well as inform you on things that you may not have even thought of. For example, did you know you have to pay a tax to watch TV? Or what the Man Booker Prize is?

It also parses down some complicated facts into very easy to understand tables. Once you read the section on the British Class system, you’ll know very clearly what exactly a Baron, Marquess, Duke, Sir, etc are and which one is the most important (the Duke, btw). There is also an excellent breakdown of all the Kings and Queens throughout Britain’s History, so you can get a good overview.

My favorite bit of the book are the parts where they advise on what not to talk about with the British. For example, it’s wise to not talk about America ‘saving their asses’ in the war or talk about how much money you make. The book also clears up exactly what the Church of England is, how Parliament works and why Football is so important to the Brits (they invented it).

I give this book 5 out of 5 Union Jacks for insightful and informative briefs on life in the UK.

Britiannia in Brief – The Scoop on All Things British – was written by Leslie Banker and William Mullins. It’s the ultimate guide to Britain for Anglophiles! To purchase Britannia in Brief: The Scoop on All Things British – click here. And be sure to check out their great blog here.