DARKEST ENGLAND

Idries Shah

Octagon Press, London, 1987

A bestseller in England, this insightful and often hilarious look at the English is by no means just for the anglophile. Shah uses his subject as a lens through which all of us can learn about human behavior -- and much else. Mixing anecdotes with scholarship and his own razor-sharp observations, Shah comes up with a kaleidoscope of a book that's as entertaining as it is wide-ranging.

Aniline dyes, the origins of the pirate's skull and crossbones, the physicists' Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle: all are grist for Shah's mill as he introduces us to dukes and diplomats, clergy and cleaning ladies, even an Afghan mujahidin commander. A looking-glass tour that's sure to quiver the stiffest upper lip.

...full of insights and information assembled to present a view no English person could easily reach.'
--Doris Lessing

'Using the etymology of the English language itself, scholarly research and a rich store of anecdotes -- which serve as teaching-stories -- Shah investigates the origins and character of this strangely oriental tribe and comes to some surprising and provocative conclusions.'
--BBC Review