Some reasons for the controversy over ‘English Individualism’. The controversy over my argument in ‘Origins of English Individualism’; the large number of reviews. The book hit a chord at the time (1978), the end of the socialist phase when Marxism was very strong and had swung too far, the anti-revolution of Thatcherism; people were looking for a political philosophy as alternative to Marxism. Sir Keith Joseph impressed by the book and ordered top civil servants to read it. The English were always different; accusations of being a ‘Little Englander’. The essay in ‘The Culture of Capitalism’ was the reply to my reviewers.