In this major contribution to debates about English identity, leading theorist Robert J.C. Young argues that Englishness was never really about England at all. In the nineteenth century, it was rather developed as a form of long-distance identity for the English diaspora around the world. Young shows how the effects of this continue to reverberate today, nationally and globally. Written by an internationally established theorist, whose work has been translated into 20 languages Shows how potent the idea of Englishness is Helps to explain why the UK continues to act as if it has a ‘special relationship’ to the US Helps to explain why the UK is so successfully multicultural Part of the prestigious Blackwell Manifestos series