| In the last year of the twentieth century thecelebrated foreign correspondent Fergal Keaneset out for the BBC on a journey throughBritain. After years covering the world s conflictzones, Keane - the child of Irish parents livingtemporarily in London - turned his attentionto the country in which he was born but where,until recently, he had never lived. FromGlasgow to Leeds, London, Cornwall, Walesand to the very fringes of the United Kingdomin County Tyrone, he discovered a world ofpoverty, exclusion and alienation.At times angry and always passionate, this isFergal Keane at his very best. It is a work ofcompelling story-telling, as the author hearsthe small voices lost in the bigger picture: listento Fiona, the young heroin addict who sold herbody and stole to support her habit; meet theProtestants and Catholics living side by side onthis country s westernmost border; hear thestory of the tenant farmers in the Welsh hillswhose way of life is vanishing. And considerthat in August 1999 a Scottish shipyard with1,200 workers was sold for two and a quartermillion pounds- the price of a large house inIslington, spiritual home of New Labour.Though this is an unflinching and sometimesshocking book, it is also curiously uplifting, asKeane reports on the courage and lack of self-pity of those he encountered. Applying thecompassion and insight for which his foreignreporting is widely admired, Fergal Keane haswritten a compelling account of the nationtoday as well as a provocative challenge tothose who promised a New Britain for theNew Millennium. |
内容加载中，请稍后...
商品评论（0条）