Introduction
A brief overview of the main topics discussed throughout the book, with a focus on the emotional roots of today’s geopolitical disorder. More and more countries are becoming trapped in a past that no longer exists. Nostalgia offers relief from socio-economic angst and becomes an emotional weapon in the political debate used by jingoist leaders. Although nostalgic nationalism is a global phenomenon, it is Brexit that epitomizes it in its purest form. Only in the United Kingdom is it possible to identify the three moments of a periodizing nostalgic narrative: the “golden days”; the “great rupture”; and the “present discontent”. The golden age is represented by the imperial era. The rupture came not only with the slow demise of the British Empire, but also with the decision to join the European project in 1973. The present discontent is caused by the unwillingness of many Britons to come to terms with Britain’s transformation into an ordinary nation-state. The rest of the chapter discusses the structure of the book. The first section looks at how nostalgia is abused to build national myths capable of mobilizing a country toward a common goal. The second dismantles some of the reality distortion created by Brexiteers’ nostalgic rhetoric.