Wales has changed almost beyond recognition in the last twenty years, yet many still cling to the romantic image of what it once was rather than cope with the reality of what it has become. The persistence of myth in the face of incontrovertible evidence is one of the Welsh illusions analysed in this book. Another is the conjuring trick through which a new Wales has been discovered, and sometimes created, by politicians, broadcasters, journalists and historians.

Patrick Hannan explores these changes and their origins in earlier decades, and describes how in the process so many people have been abruptly separated from their past. He does so in part through the stories of individuals, famous and unknown. How Sir Anthony Hopkins's grim schooldays prepared him for his most celebrated role; the belated arrival of the twentieth century in Aberystwyth; Chuck Berry and the death of deference; the rampant tribalism of the South Wales Valleys; Sir Winston Churchill's part in inventing Welsh politics; the venom that lay behind Viscount Tonypandy's apparently boundless Christian goodwill: these are some of the leads followed up by Hannan in search of his country.

Now updated to include the first term of the Welsh Assembly, The Welsh Illusion is a provocative and entertaining contribution to the understanding of how Wales reached its present condition and where, under its new and evolving system of government, it may be going.

Patrick Hannan is a writer, broadcaster and journalist. During his career he has been Industrial Editor of The Western Mail and for thirteen years he was the BBC's Welsh Political Correspondent. As a television producer he has made documentaries for BBC2, BBC Wales and HTV. For many years he has been a regular writer and presenter for Radio 4. He has been a newspaper columnist and has contributed to a wide variety of publications as well as being the editor of two books on broadcasting in Wales.