自从马格南摄影师马丁·帕尔开始摄影以来，英格兰一直是他作品的一个关键主题。《审视英格兰》是一本关于英格兰身份认同的滑稽、固执己见、深情讽刺、色彩丰富的摄影随笔。 随着苏格兰和威尔士巩固了他们作为国家的地位，而大不列颠开始瓦解，这本新书为“作为英格兰人意味着什么”的辩论做出了贡献。帕尔本人是典型的英格兰人，他作为一名摄影师的伟大成就在于，他有能力将明显的事物转化为令人惊讶的事物，将英国性的陈词滥调重塑为挑衅性的启示。显而易见，他对英格兰的巡视包括阿斯科特和慈善商店、海滨度假胜地、绿色栅栏、随买随卖的摊位、黄瓜三明治和茶杯、烤豆和劣质鞋。 帕尔的作品已经进入了英国的视觉词汇；这本书是他第一本专门以英格兰为主题的书，对其进行了进一步的拓展。所有的照片都是用环形闪光灯相机（通常用于拍摄医学照片）拍摄的，这是他在过去四年中选择的媒介。

For much of his career, Martin Parr has specialized in skewering the eccentricities and peculiarities of his native Great Britain--in particular those having to do with food, tourism, bad fashion choices and more food. Mexico is Parr's first new thematic series to be published in book form since 2002, a distinct geographical departure, and in part a greater departure as well. Parr is struck not only by Mexican culture, but also by the clear impact of America's pop culture and economy on Mexican life--the juxtaposition of Mickey Mouse with brightly colored saints, Nike logos with Day of the Dead skulls and Coca Cola with cacti. Here viewers are in recognizable territory with Parr's colorful close-ups of food, hats, signs and souvenirs, garishly shot with medical efficiency--but Mexico also includes some straight records of human faces, images that capture photographer and subject in the act of mutual contemplation. These moments of mercy are one with the underlying theme of Parr's more ironic work, calling up equally the corruption of authentic cultural forms by global consumer culture, which he both critiques and celebrates. As Parr puts it, "What I am saying is that it's a good and a bad thing. I'm constantly trying to express ambiguity. And that's what photography does very well."