This is the first half of a double shot. Look for BigAl's take on this book this afternoon.
Reviewed by: Keith Nixon
Genre: Politics
Approximate word count: 30-35,000 words
Availability
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Author:
SA
Mathieson is a journalist and author. He specializes in healthcare IT and
management and contributes regularly to blogs and publications such as the
Guardian newspaper on these subjects.
You can
learn more about the author on his website.
Description:
In Card Declined… the author traces the
historical facts regarding Britain’s use, abolition and attempts to reintroduce
an identity card scheme over the period 1945 – 2011.
Appraisal:
This is a
difficult book to review simply because it is so niche – the focus, as
previously outlined, is on the identity card scheme in the UK, which has, over
time, caused significant controversy. As this has been, and continues to be, a
political process the narrative is intertwined with politics, politicians and
therefore farce.
From a
technical perspective the book is extremely well written, the author is clearly
a very experienced writer. I could not find fault with the grammar, prose,
punctuation etc. For such a potentially dry subject the author manages to
generate interest and the events flow with surprising speed. It is clearly
extremely well researched too. 31% of the book is given over to references,
some 269 separate items.
However,
unless the reader has a specific interest in identity cards and politics the
subject matter may be a turn off. I’m not an incredibly political person myself
and I drifted every now and again. Although I recognize and stress that this is
entirely a personal view.
Overall Card Declined… was engaging, very well
written and meticulously researched.
FYI:
No issues.
Format/Typo Issues:
None. Very
well edited.
Rating: **** Four Stars
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