England, My England

Who are the English? And what images spring to mind when you think of the English and England?

Ask a tourist and they would probably say Big Ben, English 'bobbies', black taxi cabs and the late Queen and royal family. Ask a Scot, Welshmen or Irishman and you may get a different answer. However, ask an Englishman (or woman) and you will probably get more intimate answers... mowing the lawn, going down the pub or maybe braving the beach on a frigid summer's day. Ask Chris Steele-Perkins, an internationally acclaimed and award-winning Magnum photographer of over 50 years, and he'll have a multitude of answers all captured through his lens.

In this new edition of his wonderful photobook, Chris presents a sweeping, unique record of what he thinks makes England truly English. From Sunday cricket matches to snoozes in a deckchair, intimate family portraits to carefree children at play, circus shows with performing bears to the wilder performers of a street carnival, and from Saturday night dancing to race riots. Each picture tells a story of time and place and many of the images in this collection will strike a chord or a memory in the viewer. These natural and authentic photographs are a personal selection of the best and most important of Chris' photographs that he has taken over 40 years of photographing in England. Some are drawn from books he has made on English themes, others from stories he has worked on, others from pictures of family and friends, from random events encountered. This book is an honest testament to this odd but magnificent country that is England, the England of the people.