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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 of the new British impotence. In 1952 Fleming set out to repair this damage. By inventing the magical, parallel world of secret British greatness and glamour, he fabricated an icon that has endured long past its maker's death.
To grow up in England in the 1970s was to grow up with James Bond, and The Man Who Saved Britain is first of all the story of the author's relationship with the "national religion." Simon Winder lovingly and ruefully re-creates the nadirs and humiliations of fandom while illuminating what Bond's evolution — from books to film, from his roots in the 1940s to his "managed decline" today — says about the conservative movement, sex, the monarchy, food, attitudes toward America, class, and everything in between.
The Man Who Saved Britain is an insightful and, above all, entertaining exploration of postwar Britain through the palliative influence of one of its most legendary icons, the larger-than-life Agent 007.
Review:
"In this glittering gem, Winder (publishing director at Penguin UK) combines cultural history, memoir and a terrifyingly formidable knowledge of James Bond plot lines to produce a hilarious and thoughtful narrative of the fall and rise of Britain from WWII to the present day. For a nation that had owned a quarter of the world but post-1945 was losing its possessions, Ian Fleming's masterful creation, 007, was its savior. Bond — quipping, killing and bedding all the way — put villainous foreigners and their sinister assortment of exotic henchmen back in their rightful place and ensured Britain would retain its top place in the world hierarchy. In reality, of course, the Americans and the Soviets gently ignored the sad little island and went about their Cold War business. But that did not matter, since 007 exemplified the potent fantasy of British superiority in all things. As for the best Bond movie and novel, Winder tilts toward 1963's From Russia with Love, where Fleming's writing reached its peak and director Terence Young coaxed terrific performances out of his actors. Fittingly for Winder, the film's theme is so dated it requires the most explanation for those who don't remember the Cold War." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
Review:
"In this glittering gem, Winder (publishing director at Penguin UK) combines cultural history, memoir and a terrifyingly formidable knowledge of James Bond plot lines to produce a hilarious and thoughtful narrative of the fall and rise of Britain from WWII to the present day. For a nation that had owned a quarter of the world but post-1945 was losing its possessions, Ian Fleming's masterful creation, 007, was its savior. Bond — quipping, killing and bedding all the way — put villainous foreigners and their sinister assortment of exotic henchmen back in their rightful place and ensured Britain would retain its top place in the world hierarchy. In reality, of course, the Americans and the Soviets gently ignored the sad little island and went about their Cold War business. But that did not matter, since 007 exemplified the potent fantasy of British superiority in all things. As for the best Bond movie and novel, Winder tilts toward 1963's From Russia with Love, where Fleming's writing reached its peak and director Terence Young coaxed terrific performances out of his actors. Fittingly for Winder, the film's theme is so dated it requires the most explanation for those who don't remember the Cold War." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
Review:
"A blond Bond? Hard to believe. But that's what we are told to expect when the new Bond movie, 'Casino Royale,' opens in theaters later this month. Still harder to believe is the thesis of this new Bond book: that Ian Fleming's oversexed secret agent, armed with his grab bag of gadgets, did more than anyone else to manage the shift of postwar Britain from an imperial state into a European... Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review) state, simultaneously saving Britons' sense of self. Poppycock! But no matter. 'The Man Who Saved Britain,' it turns out, is really a romp through recent British history — 'a personal journey' shaped by the political views of the man who wrote it. It's more about Simon Winder than it is about James Bond. And Winder is outspoken in his criticism of his country's class system, outraged by its rapacious military history. How he came to those views is the backdrop of his tale. Winder spent his impressionable teen-age years in the England of the 1970s (as I did). He recalls one winter when at seemingly random intervals (I remember it as every other night), 'all the power went off to be replaced by beautiful candlelight.' This was the early part of the decade, when the Conservative government's attempts to legislate against strikes led to a work-to-rule by miners, resulting in rolling power cuts. Then, under a Labor government in the mid-'70s, Winder, whose 'grandfather had been active in Conservative politics,' witnessed the humiliation of a downtrodden Britain — former ruler of about a quarter of the globe, winner of two world wars — being bailed out by an International Monetary Fund subsidy. Much of the country swung to the right, electing the Iron Lady (a.k.a. Margaret Thatcher) to strong-arm the trade unions. But Winder, like many members of our student generation, came to see it differently: 'At the time it seemed that it was the mass strikes that were the problem, but now they seem much more of a symptom — a scream for help from people whose wages were being destroyed by inflation, working in a range of industries hanging on by their fingernails.' That's the political backdrop. But there's a second, equally telling key to Winder's obsessions: During his undergraduate years at Oxford, he writes, his history tutor, a reputed 'spymaster,' never popped The Question. No, Winder was not anticipating the fulfillment of the 'homoerotic idylls' he remembers from his boarding-school days. This was an entirely different question — and whether and how it would be asked was the source of intense sophomoric speculation among Winder and his 19-year-old friends. The tutor could begin: 'How do you feel about serving your country?' Or perhaps the don would stutter: 'Could you ever ... kill a man: if it was your duty, I mean?' Thus might open the delicate conversation that would introduce the student to the possibility of entering the clandestine world of MI6. Of spies. Of 007. ... Not that Winder would have thought of joining an organization as 'risible' as Her Majesty's Secret Service. But wouldn't it have been nice to be asked? (I was.) Poor old Winder — publisher, married man, flabby failure on the sports field — he was destined to edit books, not star in them. 'The Man Who Saved Britain' is his attempt to live life beyond the margins, regaling other people with his own unremarkable adventures. And — thank goodness! — our hero turns out to be less a frustrated James Bond than an aspiring Austin Powers (without the chest hair). He leavens his post-imperial outrage and postmodern guilt with a quirky sense of humor and takes us on a splendidly intolerant rampage through mid-20th-century Britain. He gives us a lefty's guide to London, from the statues that celebrate the slaughter on which the British Empire was built to the lackluster European street performers in contemporary Covent Garden; he vents about the 'sheer imbecile levels of privilege, the thoughtlessness, the parasitism' of Britain's ruling class (read: Ian Fleming and his family), then despairs about 'how many elephants were needed to make all those elephant-foot umbrella stands' that he finds in the houses of his parents' friends; he examines the former empire's apprehensive attitude toward the increasingly powerful United States just as he watches Britain reinvent itself as a successful member of the European Union; and he claims to tie it all together with the James Bond of both book and movie. Which is the part that leaves me — and, it appears, even the author himself — at a bit of a loss: 'While resigned to the idea that probably the readers of this book will be limited to those who already have some interest in Bond (are you there? are you still with me?), the aim is to use Bond merely as a thread to tie three curious decades together.' That thread is simply too tenuous to sustain his story. Winder views Bond as the 'totem or lucky charm' who walked through the devastated landscape that was postwar Britain and moved everyone on. But there's very little evidence to tie his bizarre thesis to reality. Winder leaves his readers neither shaken nor stirred." Reviewed by Frances Stead Sellers, an editor in the Style section of The Washington Post, Washington Post Book World (Copyright 2006 Washington Post Book World Service/Washington Post Writers Group)
(hide most of this review)
Review:
"In the entertaining and very funny new book The Man Who Saved Britain, Simon Winder...gives us a rollicking tour through Bondland, even as he artfully deconstructs the appeal of Agent 007." Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
Review:
"Winder manages to craft a deeply humorous tome from very eclectic subject matter. Ambitious and highly original." Kirkus Reviews
Review:
"It takes [Winder] nearly 300 pages of self-indulgent rambling and an odd wink-the-eye style of grandiosity....Winder's nearly 300-page book is no butterfly: more of a wheel somewhat dilapidated by the fritillary he has tried to launch with it." Boston Globe
Review:
"[A] whimsical, highly enjoyable study....Mr. Winder is a witty, effervescent stylist who provokes many out-loud laughs." Dallas Morning News
Review:
"Although perceptive and entertaining, this work eventually loses focus in an overly enthusiastic effort to blend many components into one whole. Readers with a good grasp of the historical context and the Bond oeuvre at the outset will be better able to appreciate the book's essence." Library Journal
Review:
"There are some useful insights in The Man Who Saved Britain — the observation that Ken Adam's Bond movie sets are so good that real location scenes such as the Vegas hotels of Diamonds Are Forever look wan by comparison." The Wall Street Journal
Synopsis:
Ian Fleming fabricated an icon that has endured long past its maker's death. Winder lovingly and ruefully re-creates the nadirs and humiliations of fandom while illuminating what Bond's evolution says about the conservative movement, sex, the monarchy, food, attitudes toward America, class, and everything in between.
Synopsis:
Bond. James Bond. The ultimate British hero--suave, stoic, gadget-driven--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. By inventing the parallel world of secret British greatness and glamour, Ian Fleming fabricated an icon that has endured long past its maker's death. In The Man Who Saved Britain, Simon Winder lovingly and ruefully re-creates the nadirs of his own fandom while illuminating what Bond says about sex, the monarchy, food, class, attitudes toward America, and everything in between. The result is an insightful and, above all, entertaining exploration of postwar Britain under the influence of the legendary Agent 007.
Simon Winder is the editor of several anthologies, including the highly praised Night Thoughts. He works in publishing in London, where he lives with his family.
lukas, March 9, 2007 (view all comments by lukas)
Whatever you think of James Bond, there's no denying his iconic stature. No doubt timed to dovetail with the release of "Casino Royale," English author Simon Winder's new book on Bond is both a brisk cultural history and a deconstruction of the Bond myth. Winder grew up with Bond and weaves in personal anecdotes with reflections on the decayed, failing British Empire the produced Bond. Winder sees the Bond of the books and the films as a kind of pop fantasty of imperial conquest and ruthless efficiency in a time of Britain's utter, almost comical decline. Winder's writing is breezy, tart, and highly opinionated and his placing Bond in a specifically English context is often illuminating. However, there's also a school marmish disapproving streak that seems to miss out on just how fun the best Bonds are, this in spite of sexism, racism, imperialism, and pretty much any un-p.c. charge you want to launch. He also doesn't quote from many sources (like other nationalities' views on Bond) giving the book an overly personal slant. Still, it is an always entertaining and sometimes insightful take on one of England's great contributions to pop culture.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No (5 of 9 readers found this comment helpful)
"Publishers Weekly Review"
by Publishers Weekly,
"In this glittering gem, Winder (publishing director at Penguin UK) combines cultural history, memoir and a terrifyingly formidable knowledge of James Bond plot lines to produce a hilarious and thoughtful narrative of the fall and rise of Britain from WWII to the present day. For a nation that had owned a quarter of the world but post-1945 was losing its possessions, Ian Fleming's masterful creation, 007, was its savior. Bond — quipping, killing and bedding all the way — put villainous foreigners and their sinister assortment of exotic henchmen back in their rightful place and ensured Britain would retain its top place in the world hierarchy. In reality, of course, the Americans and the Soviets gently ignored the sad little island and went about their Cold War business. But that did not matter, since 007 exemplified the potent fantasy of British superiority in all things. As for the best Bond movie and novel, Winder tilts toward 1963's From Russia with Love, where Fleming's writing reached its peak and director Terence Young coaxed terrific performances out of his actors. Fittingly for Winder, the film's theme is so dated it requires the most explanation for those who don't remember the Cold War." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
"Publishers Weekly Review"
by Publishers Weekly,
"In this glittering gem, Winder (publishing director at Penguin UK) combines cultural history, memoir and a terrifyingly formidable knowledge of James Bond plot lines to produce a hilarious and thoughtful narrative of the fall and rise of Britain from WWII to the present day. For a nation that had owned a quarter of the world but post-1945 was losing its possessions, Ian Fleming's masterful creation, 007, was its savior. Bond — quipping, killing and bedding all the way — put villainous foreigners and their sinister assortment of exotic henchmen back in their rightful place and ensured Britain would retain its top place in the world hierarchy. In reality, of course, the Americans and the Soviets gently ignored the sad little island and went about their Cold War business. But that did not matter, since 007 exemplified the potent fantasy of British superiority in all things. As for the best Bond movie and novel, Winder tilts toward 1963's From Russia with Love, where Fleming's writing reached its peak and director Terence Young coaxed terrific performances out of his actors. Fittingly for Winder, the film's theme is so dated it requires the most explanation for those who don't remember the Cold War." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
"Review"
by Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times,
"In the entertaining and very funny new book The Man Who Saved Britain, Simon Winder...gives us a rollicking tour through Bondland, even as he artfully deconstructs the appeal of Agent 007."
"Review"
by Kirkus Reviews,
"Winder manages to craft a deeply humorous tome from very eclectic subject matter. Ambitious and highly original."
"Review"
by Boston Globe,
"It takes [Winder] nearly 300 pages of self-indulgent rambling and an odd wink-the-eye style of grandiosity....Winder's nearly 300-page book is no butterfly: more of a wheel somewhat dilapidated by the fritillary he has tried to launch with it."
"Review"
by Dallas Morning News,
"[A] whimsical, highly enjoyable study....Mr. Winder is a witty, effervescent stylist who provokes many out-loud laughs."
"Review"
by Library Journal,
"Although perceptive and entertaining, this work eventually loses focus in an overly enthusiastic effort to blend many components into one whole. Readers with a good grasp of the historical context and the Bond oeuvre at the outset will be better able to appreciate the book's essence."
"Review"
by The Wall Street Journal,
"There are some useful insights in The Man Who Saved Britain — the observation that Ken Adam's Bond movie sets are so good that real location scenes such as the Vegas hotels of Diamonds Are Forever look wan by comparison."
"Synopsis"
by Ingram,
Ian Fleming fabricated an icon that has endured long past its maker's death. Winder lovingly and ruefully re-creates the nadirs and humiliations of fandom while illuminating what Bond's evolution says about the conservative movement, sex, the monarchy, food, attitudes toward America, class, and everything in between.
"Synopsis"
by Netread,
Bond. James Bond. The ultimate British hero--suave, stoic, gadget-driven--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. By inventing the parallel world of secret British greatness and glamour, Ian Fleming fabricated an icon that has endured long past its maker's death. In The Man Who Saved Britain, Simon Winder lovingly and ruefully re-creates the nadirs of his own fandom while illuminating what Bond says about sex, the monarchy, food, class, attitudes toward America, and everything in between. The result is an insightful and, above all, entertaining exploration of postwar Britain under the influence of the legendary Agent 007.
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