The Kingdom by the Sea: A Journey Around the Coast of Great Britain

After eleven years of living as an American in London, Paul Theroux traveled clockwise around the entire coastline of Great Britain, Including Northern Ireland, to find out what Britain and the British are really like. It was 1982, the summer of the Falkands War, the Riots, and the birth of the royal heir, Prince William--and the ideal time, he found, to surprise the British into talking about themselves. The result is a candid, funny, perceptive, and opinionated travelogue of his journey and his findings.

"Few of us have seen the entirety of the coast, and I for one am grateful to Mr. Theroux for making my journey unnecessary. He describes it all brilliantly and honestly." - Society of Dix-Neuviemistes (Observer (London))

"Filled with history insights, landscape, epiphanies, meditations, celebrations and laments." - (New York Times)

"One of his golden talents, perhaps because he is American and therefore classless in British eyes, is the ability to chat up and get on with all sorts and conditions of Britain.... Theroux is a good companion." - A. H. Linton (Times (London))

"Perversely appealing..... Theroux leavens his narrative with sardonic humor." - (Chicago Tribune Books)

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