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The Road to Somewhere

The Road to Somewhere

The New Tribes Shaping British Politics

Summary

LONGLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2018

SUNDAY TIMES, GUARDIAN
, TELEGRAPH AND ECONOMIST BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2017

'A provocative take on the UK's new tribal divisions ... a book whose timing is pitch-perfect' Andrew Marr


Many Remainers reported waking up the day after the Brexit vote feeling as if they were living in a foreign country. In fact, they were merely experiencing the same feeling that many British people have felt every day for years.

Fifty years ago, people in leafy North London and people in working-class Northern towns could vote for a Labour party that broadly encompassed all of their interests. Today their priorities are poles apart.

In this groundbreaking and timely book, Goodhart shows us how people have come to be divided into two camps: the 'Anywheres', who have 'achieved' identities, derived from their careers and education, and 'Somewheres', who get their identity from a sense of place and from the people around them, and who feel a sense of loss due to mass immigration and rapid social change.

In a world increasingly divided by Brexit and Trump, Goodhart shows how Anywheres must come to understand and respect Somewhere values to stand a fighting chance against the rise of populism.

Reviews

  • Goodhart offers an impeccably sensible and decent exposition of how the political elites have failed their societies ... The book makes compelling reading both for voters and those who want to get elected by them
    Max Hastings, The Sunday Times

About the author

David Goodhart

David Goodhart is the founding editor of Prospect magazine and one of the most distinctive voices on politics today. His The Road to Somewhere was a Sunday Times bestseller and lauded as the book 'likely to inform what a post-Brexit Britain might look like' (Economist). He is currently head of the Demography Unit at the think tank Policy Exchange, and was previously director of the centre-left think tank Demos.
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