Games with Shadows

<p>Beautifully written, intelligent and provocative reflections on the world scene as Ascherson looks first at the painful business of being English in a period of decline marked by public nastiness and private confusion. He goes on to attack - in an important and original series of arguments -the politics of ''Stonehenge'': the UK''s archaic and undemocratic constitution, and finally examines the temptations of state power in Mrs Thatcher''s decade. <br><br>Next, Ascherson takes us on a personal tour of Europe, ''the barbaric continent'', exposing some ugly hatred and memories lurking beneath the cultured surface; he writes movingly about the courage and sacrifice that nations at their best can draw out. His meditations on Eastern Europe, ''Waltzing With Molotov'', are exemplary for their critical sympathy. <br><br>In the book''s final section, a vivid and memorable collection of sectarians, spies, traitors, heroes, monsters and victims reveals a lot about fear and hope in the closing years of this dangerous century.</p>