The Man Who Saved Britain: A Personal Journey Into the Disturbing World of James Bond

by Simon Winder

Book Overview

Bond. James Bond. The ultimate British hero--suave, stoic, gadget-driven--he was more than anything the necessary invention of a traumatized country whose self-image as a great power had just been shattered by the Second World War. Bond's creator, Ian Fleming, was an upper-class wastrel who had found purpose and excitement in the war, and to whom, like so many others, its end was a terrible disappointment--the elation of survival stifled by the reality...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374299382
• ISBN13: 9780374299385
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 287 Pages
• Weight: 1.06 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

The author spends every page telling you how horrible Brittain is and puts a foot note here and ther

Look I get needing to know the history to understand the topic but when you only briefly mention the topic it tends to ruin the entire reason for writing the book. Page after page the author goes on about how terrible Britain was, how oppressive it was how many lives it ruined, the struggles it had before, in and after world war two but he never talks about bond! I got to page 142 and just tossed the book in the trash. Maybe it would be readable if the author tried a page or two of hand wringing and history lessons than a page or two of the actual topic, but no just page after page of this is what lead to this and this what caused that and I'll see if I can shoe horn the main topic into the next page. Also it was so dense! Long paragraphs filled with esoteric historical events that I think the Britain's themselves would of been hard pressed to remember. Also the verbiage is so stuffy and filled with British euphemisms that it sucked what little joy left there was reading the book. As for Fleming ,the man who created Bond it was like the author just googled the name and tossed some tidbits here and there, nothing new, nothing relevant, at least in the 142 pages I read. And you can pound sand if you say, well you didn't finish the book cause if you can't at least broach your subject in 142 pages why should I expect it to happen in the next hundred pages?

many eye-openers, and a few more ...

Like with millions of other people, the James Bond-phenomena has been part of nearly all my life. Therefore I experienced Simon Winder's book as very refreshing, providing me with many eye-openers and new insights. However, in the years past I also developped a few insights on James Bond myself. They aren't in Winder's book, and I think they should be. Here we go: 1 the best acting performance in all JB-films is that of Lotte Lenya, as colonel Klebb in 'From Russia with love'. Here we encounter a high-quality, renowned and very experienced actress; 2 'From Russia with love' is the only JB-film that sees a genuine love-affair through to the end. Usually the girls Bond gets involved with don't make it that far.

Hilarious History/Popculture Study

Simon Winder gives us Bond in context. The book covers the history of post-War Britain and highlights the disillusionment of the average Brit regarding the end of the glorious "British Empire". In the midst of these sentiments, Ian Fleming produced the novels that gave us James Bond - somewhat like a last gasp of the glory that was Britannia. The book is highly entertaining (sometimes even more than the original Bond books and films!) and hilarious. I found myself laughing on every page.

A fantastic cultural history

Earlier this year, I read a find book entitled: The Tour de France, a cultural history. It's a fine book, and it shows the links between French culture and perceptions of the Tour. This is light years beyond it. This book is a cultural history as well, and shows the links between Ian Fleming's Bond character and post WWII British history, but does it in remarkably entertaining way. It parallels the Bond stories and the last gasps of the British empire, and ties the miserable state of Britain's economy in the 1970's to the Roger Moore film versions of Fleming's books. This book is one of those rare triple threats: Funny (hilarious at times), perceptive, and thought-provoking. If you're looking for the Compleat James Bond, look elsewhere. But for a bracing, enlightening view of a cultural icon, get this book. Mr. Winder brings a wide breadth of knowledge and arcana to bear on the subject.

007 as the Robin Hood of Dark British Imperialism

This book is indeed a personal study of James Bond as depicted in the books and in the films. For a half century, the Bond franchise has been enormously successful. Certainly no other superhero enjoys his uninterrupted popularity. Why is that? To answer that question, the author considers that Bond appeared just when the British Empire was collapsing...and the English were feeling impotent in global affairs. Along comes Bond - a Churchillian figure - who saves his country and the West from evil blackmailers and dangerous villians.. Bond restores the psyche of the English male. Then again, Bond's attitudes were comforting to those trying to cope with new dangerous ideas: third world or womens' liberation. Bond takes charge...of women, and persons from other lands - some exotic, some from enemy camps. I liked the part when the author discusses his impressions of James Bond when he was 10, 20, and beyond; it is interesting to see the evolution of his opinions. As a boy he was thrilled to death by the movie "Live and Let Die." Today, he notices the flaws and even silliness of the some of the scenes. Bond is also popular because (unlike most of us) he can sample the opposite sex from around the world and make generalizations (to men) about their sexuality. Then there is the "male-talk". Amazing - the books have sold 100 million copies...true, they are pulp fiction but usually well written pulp fiction. Ian Fleming's novels are ideally suited for the movies because their quick pace and strange adventure are exactly what Americans want from action films. In my view, whenever a Bond film follows the book, it tends to be good. When the film strays, it is considerably weaker. (Consider the critical success of the 2006 CASINO ROYALE or the old success of Sean Connnery's original Bond flicks) Simon Winder's "personal reflections" are intelligent and witty. Most assuredly, he helped me understand Bond, not just enjoy him. Those unfamiliar with the Bond BOOKS should read one or two to get the flavor of Ian Fleming's writing. Then tackle this volume. Recommended.

James Bond: Toxin or Pleasure?

The Man Who Saved Britain is the most entertaining and informative book on popular history I've read in a long time. Simon Winder deals with the "deeper meanings" a hero (that's a word to use guardedly) like Bond has, but without the academese and pretentiousness of so many books on popular culture. Ian Fleming's Bond books (most written in the fifties) seem to Winder to be a conservative reaction to Britain losing it's empire. The Jamaica that 007 kept visiting in the novels (where the white man Bond defeated mixed-race "masterbrains" like Dr. No) was not the same Jamaica that sent Bob Marley to the mother country ten years later. Fleming's Jamaica was an outpost of empire where Englishmen like him were the "cream on the milk." After the Suez crisis (when Britain conspired with France and Israel to invade Egypt, but failed due to world opinion and Eisenhower's lack of support), prime minister Anthony Eden hid out at Goldeneye, Ian Fleming's Jamaican estate, licking his wounds. Tony Blair has apparently learned the lesson Anthony Eden didn't. A few months ago, Blair remained obstinately on holiday in the sun while Israel bombed Lebanese civilians, sticking with the Bush administration one hundred percent, refusing to even call for a cease-fire from both sides. If Bush thinks he's Churchill, maybe Blair - - the prime minister of "Cool Britannia," which always sounded like an attempt to go back to Carnaby Street and the time of James Bond and the Beatles - - thinks he's 007. (To be fair to Simon Winder: it would be hard to discern his opinions on Bush, Blair, the Iraq war and similar issues from The Man Who Saved Britain. His book is about Bond, England after the war, and why we seem to need people like Bond, or at least the idea of people like Bond.) When I was eleven or twelve, the Bond novels (60-cent Signet paperbacks) were the first "adult" (that's a stretch) books I ever bought. And I bought them for the same reason every other boy did - - the "knowledge" Bond seemed to give - - how to tip, how to play cards, how to make love, even how to kill, because when I was growing up in the sixties American boys expected war quite possibly to be a part of their early lives. (JFK was a fan of From Russia with Love. Kennedy created the Green Berets, and it's a cliche that, like Fleming, he thought himself a master of the kind of "special operations forces" we're fetishizing again in this country.) As Simon Winder says, Bond is the "fantasy of powerfulness, but . . . the fantasy of those who themselves have no power." We should pay attention to characters like Bond, and why history throws them up along with their real-world counterparts, but now "it's late and there are other things to do." Back to reality.