In 1933 J.B. Priestley made a journey through England. He travelled by train, bus and car, and on foot, talking to the people he met and taking in his surroundings. From the drowsy idyll of rural backwaters to the dark satanic landscapes of industrialized cities, he took a writer's eye and a warmly human sensibility, describing what he found with an insight that holds good today. The resulting book became one which defined an age, and influenced the political thought of the Forties and Fifties. But what probably ensured its enduring popularity above all else were Priestley's accounts of his encounters with a rich variety of English characters. This edition is published to coincide with the centenary of Priestley's birth.