The result of three hundred interviews with notable British figures--John Fowles, Peggy Ashcroft, Jeremy Irons, Paul Theroux, and others--this work chronicles the state of Great Britain after two world wars and the loss of its Empire Having interviewed over 50 Britons--some of them "ordinary," many of them elite--Critchfield has decided that one of the most charming countries in the world needs to embrace U.S.-style democratic and scientific values. Based on a 1988 sociological trek through England, Scotland, and Wales commissioned by The Economist, Critchfield's book consists essentially of an extended conversation between the author and various aristocrats, politicians, writers, Oxford dons, and members of the tourism industry regarding Britain's postwar decline and the Thatcher government's many shortcomings. Two books that offer a deeper analysis of Critchfield's main topic: Patrick Wright's On Living in an Old Country: The National Past in Contemporary Britain (Verso, dist. by Routledge, 1985) and Tom Nairn's The Enchanted Glass: Britain and Its Monarchy (Radius, 1988; Norton, 1989. pap.). - Kent Worcester, Columbia Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.