Entitled: A Critical History of the British Aristocracy

Product Description

A polemical history of the British ruling class and how they ended up owning our nation. The full and sometimes shocking story of the aristocracy in England, Scotland and Ireland, from Anglo-Saxon times until the present day. Exploring the political significance of the peerage in the House of Lords as well as their social and cultural lives, Entitled seeks to explain how the noble families of Britain and Ireland came to achieve such dominance in the first place and it reveals the often nefarious means they have employed to maintain their power, despite being virtually excised from the political establishment today. It examines the ambition, snobbery and rivalry which drove local barons to fight each other and aristocratic families to guard their inheritance with ferocity and, occasionally, violence. It introduces a cast of extraordinary characters- the snobs, the dandies, the rakes, the eccentrics, the warriors, the radicals and the downright criminals. Meticulously researched and beautifully written, Entitled tells a riveting story of arrogance, corruption and greed, the defining characteristics of the British ruling class.A polemical history of the British ruling class and how they ended up owning our nation. The full and sometimes shocking story of the aristocracy in England, Scotland and Ireland, from Anglo-Saxon times until the present day. Exploring the political significance of the peerage in the House of Lords as well as their social and cultural lives, Entitled seeks to explain how the noble families of Britain and Ireland came to achieve such dominance in the first place and it reveals the often nefarious means they have employed to maintain their power, despite being virtually excised from the political establishment today. It examines the ambition, snobbery and rivalry which drove local barons to fight each other and aristocratic families to guard their inheritance with ferocity and, occasionally, violence. It introduces a cast of extraordinary characters- the snobs, the dandies, the rakes, the eccentrics, the warriors, the radicals and the downright criminals. Meticulously researched and beautifully written, Entitled tells a riveting story of arrogance, corruption and greed, the defining characteristics of the British ruling class.
Chris Bryant is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for the Rhondda since 2001. He was one of the two leading MPs who fought to expose the phone hacking scandal at Rupert Murdoch's News International. He was Deputy Leader of the House of Commons and then Minister for Europe in the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in the last Labour government and then, after Labour's election defeat in 2010 became Shadow Justice Minister and Shadow Home Office Minister with responsibility for immigration. He was later promoted to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Minister for Culture, Media & Sport and subsequently became Shadow Leader of the House of Commons. He resigned from the Shadow Cabinet in June 2016. Before entering parliament he was a priest in the Church of England. His previous books include biographies of Sir Stafford Cripps and Glenda Jackson as well as, most recently, his two-volume Parliament- a Biography.