£54.00
Publication Date:
29 Jun 2000
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
For delivery:
Estimated despatch 10 - 15 May 2024
Description
This, the third volume to appear in the New Oxford History of England, covers the period from the repeal of the Corn Laws to the dramatic failure of Gladstone's first Home Rule Bill. In his magisterial study of the mid-Victorian generation, Theo Hoppen identifies three defining themes.
The first he calls 'established industrialism' - the growing acceptance that factory life and manufacturing had come to stay. It was during these four decades that the balance of employment shifted irrevocably. For the first time in history, more people were employed in industry than worked on the land.
The second concerns the 'multiple national identities' of the constituent parts of the United Kingdom. Dr Hoppen's study of the histories of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and the Empire reveals the existence of a variety of particular and overlapping national traditions flourishing alongside the increasingly influential structure of the unitary state.
The third defining theme is that of 'interlocking spheres' which the author uses to illuminate the formation of public culture in the period. This, he argues, was generated not by a series of influences operating independently from each other, but by a variety of intermeshed political, economic, scientific, literary and artistic developments.
This original and authoritative book will define these pivotal forty years in British history for the next generation.
Contents
LIST OF PLATES; LIST OF MAPS; LIST OF TABLES; ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS TO ILLUSTRATIONS; INTRODUCTION; PART 1: SOCIETY AND THE STATE; 1 THE AGRARIAN INTEREST: AGRICULTURAL UPS AND DOWNS - RURAL SOCIETY; 2 THE MIDDLE SORT OF PEOPLE: NUMBERS, EXPERIENCES, ANXIETIES - PROFESSIONAL PERSONS - LOWER BORDERLANDS - URBAN CONTEXTS; 3 WORKERS BY HAND: NUMBERS, WORK, POVERTY - RESPECTABILITY, ADJUSTMENT, AUTONOMY - STANDARDS OF LIVING; 4 THE NATURE OF THE STATE: WHAT SHOULD THE STATE DO? - CENTRE AND LOCALITIES - WHAT THE STATE DID; PART II: THE FABRIC OF POLITICS; 5 PARTIES, GOVERNMENT, POLICIES 1846-1855: CORN LAW REPEAL - PARTIES - GOVERNMENTS - IMPERIAL AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS; 6 CRIMEAN WAR AND INDIAN MUTINY: WAR AGAINST RUSSIA - REVOLT IN INDIA; 7 PALMERSTON AND AFTER, 1855-1868: PALMERSTON AT LAST - CONSERVATIVE INTERLUDE - PALMERSTON AGAIN AND GLADSTONE RISING - PERTURBATIONS, 1865-1868 - IMPERIAL AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS; 8 REFORM AND ELECTORAL POLITICS: QUESTIONS OF REFORM - REFORM ACTS 1867/1868 - ELECTIONS AND THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM; PART III MONEY AND MENTALITIES; 9 A MATURING ECONOMY: REVOLUTIONS, CLIMATERICS, PRODUCTIVITY - INDUSTRIES, RAILWAYS SERVICES - A TRADING NATION - INVESTING AT HOME AND OVERSEAS - NO LONGER AT FULL STEAM?; 10 LIVING AND SPENDING: FAMILIES, SEX, RELATIONSHIPS - HOUSES, DOMESTICITY, MAKING ENDS MEET - FOOD AND CLOTHES - SHOPS, PUBS, AND HAVING A GOOD TIME; 11THE BUSINESS OF CULTURE: PRELIMINARY - LITERATURE - MUSIC - PAINTING - ARCHITECTURE; 12 GODLY PEOPLE: DENOMINATIONAL LANDSCAPES - WHO THEY WERE AND WHAT THEY DID; 13 THE EVOLUTIONARY MOMENT: SPENCER, DARWIN, AND OTHERS - PROGRESS, DISSOLUTION, HOPES, FEARS - MATTERS OF BELIEF - MATTERS OF IMAGINATION; PART IV ENGLAND AND BEYOND; 14 A BRITISH NATION? THE EXPERIENCES OF SCOTLAND AND WALES: BRITAIN, A LOP-SIDED AFFAIR - SCOTLAND: SOCIETY AND RELIGION - WALES: RELIGION AND CHANGE - SCOTLAND: IDENTITIES, REGIONS, LAND - WALES: LAND AND POLITICS - AMBIVALENT STATES; 15 THE ISLAND OF IRELAND: CONTEXTS - THE GREAT FAMINE - A POST-FAMINE WORLD: LAND, RELIGION, POLITICS; 16 GLADSTONE AND DISRAELI 1868-1880: GLADSTONE SPRINTING - DISRAELI STROLLING - FOREIGN AND IMPERIAL AFFAIRS - ANOTHER LIBERAL TIDE; 17 SHIFTS AND REALIGNMENTS: LEADERS, PARTIES, POLICIES - FOREIGN AND IMPERIAL AFFAIRS - IRISH QUESTIONS; MAPS; CHRONOLOGY; LIST OF CABINETS; BIBLIOGRAPHY; INDEX; PART 1: SOCIETY AND THE STATE; PART II: THE FABRIC OF POLITICS; PART III MONEY AND MENTALITIES; PART IV ENGLAND AND BEYOND
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