In recent years there has been a sustained renewal of interest in British national identity at a popular, political and academic level, and a striking common feature in each case has been the concern to differentiate between "British" and "English" and to define a distinct sense of Englishness. The English flag (the cross of St. George as opposed to the flag of the United Kingdom, the Union Flag) has gained a currency inconceivable even ten years ago. Drawing together original research on imperial history and contemporary British culture, this volume reflects the interdisciplinary nature of this topic and clearly demonstrates that far from being idiosyncratic or self-involved, the question of Englishness and its relationship to British national identity offers an important avenue for thinking about the politics of national identity in our postcolonial and globalized world.