The Review of Britain and America Today

CONTENTS

  Part 1. Britain Today 2

  1.   The land, the people and natural resources 2
  2. British Government System 5
  3. English History 14
  4. Which English? 22
  5. Industry, Agriculture and Business 27
  6. Education 33
  7. Character and Manners 37
  8. The Press, Radio and Television 40
  9. Religion and Beliefs 45

  Part 2. American Society and Culture 48

  1.   The land, the people and natural resources 48
  2.   American History 53
  3.   The Forms of Government 66
  4.   American Literature 76
  5.   The American Character 85
  6.   How the United States Economy Works 87
  7.   American Education 93
  8.   Thanksgiving and Christmas 97
  9.   Race and Ethnic Relations 101
  10. Social Problems in the United States 111

Part 1. Britain Today

The nation's official name is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is usually shortened to Great Britain, the United Kingdom, or just Britain. Strictly speaking, however, the name Great Britain applies only to the largest of the British Isles or to the union of the countries that occupy it - England, Wales, and Scotland. The United Kingdom includes Northern Ireland as well. The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, though strictly not part of the United Kingdom, are sometimes included for statistical purposes.

  1.     The land, the people and natural resources

LAND

  The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland lies at the northwestern edge of Europe, separated from the European mainland by the English Channel, the North Sea, and the narrow Strait of Dover.   It consists of the formerly separate kingdoms of England and Scotland, the principality of Wales--which are collectively referred to as Great Britain--and six counties of Northern Ireland, which elected to remain within the United Kingdom in 1921 when southern Ireland withdrew to form the Irish Free State (after 1949, the Republic of Ireland, or Eire).   The loss of Ireland and its... [continues]

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