More specifically, the idea of England’s islandness is interestingly understood to work at a ‘double level, referring to the national “island” at the same time as the smaller islands within the archipelago’ (p. 4). I liked this approach very much indeed. Thus, after a comprehensive introductory chapter, chapter 2 explores the idea of an ‘island within an island’ (eastern Suffolk) as it was being described in 1950 via countryside writing ‘a genre that flourished in interwar Britain’ (p. 15), where the dominant tropes were those of nostalgia, isolation and insularity. Chapter 3 focuses upon wartime intruders and more contested understandings of islands during the war associated with airfields, anti-invasion strategies and structures. Chapter 4 more intensively turns to themes of militarisation and invasion examining how islands were used for military and scientific research associated with radars in the 1930s in order to make Britain an island fortress. Chapters 5 and 6 focus upon a different intruder, birds, and the role understandings of islands played in the growing interest in the protection of birds. Chapter 7 weaves together themes of nature and militarisation further by focusing upon the role of the island in atomic weapons research, and the book ends with a really effective summary Conclusion. While Davis does not overly engage with the burgeoning field of island studies’ theory, I think this book makes a particularly valuable contribution to understanding Englishness and islandness; especially for those interested in themes of militarisation and nature. It is for this reason that I would wholly recommend it.

中文翻译：

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书评：莎士比亚领地

更具体地说，有趣的是，英格兰的岛屿化概念在“双重层面”上起作用，与群岛中的较小岛屿同时指国家“岛屿”（第4页）。我确实非常喜欢这种方法。因此，经过全面的介绍性章节之后，第2章探讨了“岛内岛屿”（萨福克东部）的概念，正如在1950年通过乡村写作“在两次世界大战期间英国兴旺的类型”所描述的那样（第15页），其中的主要比喻是怀旧，孤立和孤立无援。第三章重点讨论战时入侵者，以及在战场上与飞机场，反侵略策略和结构相关的对岛屿的更多有争议的理解。第4章更深入地讨论了军事化和入侵的主题，考察了1930年代如何将岛屿用于与​​雷达相关的军事和科学研究，以使英国成为岛屿堡垒。第5章和第6章重点介绍了不同的入侵者，鸟类，以及对岛屿的理解在保护鸟类方面的兴趣日益浓厚。第7章通过重点关注岛屿在原子武器研究中的作用，将自然与军事化主题进一步编织在一起，而本书最后以一个非常有效的总结作为结尾。尽管戴维斯（Davis）并没有过度参与新兴的岛屿研究理论领域，但我认为这本书对理解英语和岛屿性做出了特别宝贵的贡献。特别是对于那些对军事化和自然主题感兴趣的人。