Author Description

King James I once said that if he were not a king he would like to be an Oxford man. "I was a modest, good-humoured boy," Max Beerbohm wrote, "it is Oxford that has made me insufferable." "Few cities," Jan Morris observes, "have been more loved, loathed, and celebrated." This classic volume—now in its third edition—recounts the character, history, mores, buildings, climate, and people of an uncategorizable city. Exploring this ancient British crossroads beside the Thames, Jan Morris—a distinguished travel writer and novelist—focuses on the richly-mixed heritage of city and University, replete with ongoing battles between "Town and Gown." She investigates the spirit and pride of each individual Oxford college; offers detailed descriptions of the flora and fauna, especially in the Oxford Botanical Garden, the oldest of its kind in Great Britain; depicts the pleasures and recreations, as well as the education and scholarship, of the students; and traces the city and the University's Christian roots. Her witty prose reveals the Oxford which gave the world the MG sports car and educated twenty-two British Prime Ministers. This newly revised edition brings up to date a portrait of a small city which has given its name to a marmalade, bags, a gray, shoes, a Group, a Movement, a dictionary, and an accent.