“Should be handed out . . . in the immigration line at Heathrow.” —Malcolm Gladwell
Sarah Lyall moved to London in the mid-1990s and soon became known for amusing and sharp dispatches on her adopted country. Confronted by the eccentricities of these island people (the English husband who never turned on the lights, the legislators who behaved like drunken frat boys, the hedgehog lovers), she set about trying to figure out the British. Part anthropological field study and part memoir, The Anglo Files has already received great acclaim and recognition for the astuteness, humor, and sensitivity with which the author wields her pen.
Sarah Lyall, a writer at large for the New York Times, lived in London until 2013, when she moved back home to New York. She’s still adjusting.
Table of Contents
Preface to the New Edition ix
Introduction: Lunch with an Earl 1
1 Naughty Boys and Rumpy-Pumpy 11
2 Honorable Members 32
3 A Fact Too Good to Check 50
4 Distressed British Nationals 71
5 More than a Game 91
6 Toiletgate 107
7 Lawmakers from Another Planet 126
8 False Modesty 145
9 The Naked Guy and Angle-Grinder Man 164
10 Invasion of the Hedgehog People 181
11 "I Snapped It Out Myself 193
12 Wine from Weeds 206
13 "By God, Sir, I've Lost My Leg!" 228
14 The Best of the Day 247
Acknowledgments 261
Further Reading 265
Index 271
What People are Saying About This
From the Publisher
"Lyall is a first-rate reporter, and her book has all the hallmarks of her journalism: it is warm, blunt, confessional, companionable." —-The New York Times
Graydon Carter
A razor-sharp . . . wickedly insightful, decidedly biased account of everything British.
