Jingo

First published on 1 October 1997 by Victor Gollancz. It is the twenty-first Discworld novel and the fourth City Watch book.

Jingo is a direct satire of nationalist warmongering — the manufactured outrage over trivial territorial disputes, the way governments use patriotism to distract from domestic problems, and the complete indifference of those who start wars to the people who have to fight them. It was written at a time of continuing conflict in the former Yugoslavia.

'Jingoism' is the term for extreme, belligerent nationalism — it comes from a 19th-century British music hall song ('We don't want to fight, but by Jingo if we do...'). Pratchett's title condenses the whole phenomenon to one word.

Critical opinion varies. Some readers consider it Pratchett's most politically pointed Watch novel; others find it more polemic than character-driven. It is the Watch book where Vimes's anti-authoritarian fury is most directly expressed.