This book caused a sensation in the author’s homeland: immediately after it was published, it sparked a wave of enthusiastic responses from readers, critics, and sociologists. Kate Fox, a hereditary anthropologist, managed to create a funny and surprisingly accurate portrait of English society. She analyzes the quirks, habits, and weaknesses of the English—but she writes not as an anthropologist, but as an Englishwoman: with humor and without any pomp, in a sharp, vivid, and accessible way. You can’t help but laugh when you read about conversations on the weather, garden gnomes, and cups of tea. What’s amusing is not only the English as a whole—Kate Fox herself is amusing too. And that is her greatest achievement.
The book “Watching the English. The Hidden Rules of Behavior” is a pleasant piece of entertaining reading with a serious subtext.