Britons: Forging the Nation, 1707-1837How was Great Britain made? And what does it mean to be British? In this prize-winning book, Linda Colley combines imperial, political, social, and cultural history to analyze the evolution of Britishness, evoking its enduring tensions as well as its powerful characteristics. Hailed at its publication as "the most dazzling and comprehensive study of a national identity yet to appear” (Tom Nairn), Britons is now reissued with a new Preface by the author commenting on the book’s genesis and critical reception and on recent political developments. "A sweeping survey, . . . evocatively illustrated and engagingly written.”--Harriet Ritvo, New York Times Book Review "Dashingly written and firmly unsentimental.”--Keith Thomas, New York Review of Books "Extremely learned and penetrating . . . [and] most entertaining.”--Conor Cruise O’Brien, New Republic "Challenging, fascinating, enormously well informed.”--John Barrell, London Review of Books "[Colley] has a capacity for historical generalizations that puts her into the front rank among her contemporaries.”--E. P. Thompson, Dissent "Absolutely magnificent.”--Jeffrey Hart, National Review |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 92
Page i
... Society of Literature , and a regular commentator on current events as well as past cultures . When Britons was first published in 1992 it won the Wolfson Prize and provoked a major debate on national identities in Britain and elsewhere ...
... Society of Literature , and a regular commentator on current events as well as past cultures . When Britons was first published in 1992 it won the Wolfson Prize and provoked a major debate on national identities in Britain and elsewhere ...
Page ix
... Society of Oxford allowed me to work out some of my initial thoughts in the pages of its journal , and various chapters were much improved by comments from seminar and conference groups at Cambridge University , the Institute of ...
... Society of Oxford allowed me to work out some of my initial thoughts in the pages of its journal , and various chapters were much improved by comments from seminar and conference groups at Cambridge University , the Institute of ...
Page xi
... society , which would have been absurd , or to deny the manifold fissures and failures within it . But I was concerned to investigate what I saw and still see as a profoundly significant shift over time . - After 1707 , the ' one united ...
... society , which would have been absurd , or to deny the manifold fissures and failures within it . But I was concerned to investigate what I saw and still see as a profoundly significant shift over time . - After 1707 , the ' one united ...
Page xii
... societies from each other , and concentrating only on what is distinctive about their respective pasts , quickly results in distorted and shrunken history . There are important separate stories that need prising open , to be sure , but ...
... societies from each other , and concentrating only on what is distinctive about their respective pasts , quickly results in distorted and shrunken history . There are important separate stories that need prising open , to be sure , but ...
Page xviii
... society of persons , with various backgrounds , who are free to choose their own identities and priorities ' , and who are also at ease with an ever - more inter - connected world in which they are no longer paramount , but must ...
... society of persons , with various backgrounds , who are free to choose their own identities and priorities ' , and who are also at ease with an ever - more inter - connected world in which they are no longer paramount , but must ...
Contents
IV | 11 |
VI | 18 |
VII | 30 |
VIII | 43 |
IX | 55 |
X | 56 |
XI | 71 |
XII | 85 |
XXVIII | 237 |
XXIX | 238 |
XXX | 250 |
XXXI | 262 |
XXXII | 273 |
XXXIII | 283 |
XXXIV | 285 |
XXXV | 291 |
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Common terms and phrases
Act of Union American anti-slavery arms army battle became Britain Britannia British British monarchy Britons Cambridge Catholic emancipation celebration Charles Edward Stuart civil classes colonies commercial culture defence domestic Duke dynasty early Edinburgh eighteenth century élite empire England English Englishmen Europe European female France French French Revolution George III George III's Hanoverian Highlanders historians History House of Commons Ibid identity imperial important invasion Ireland Jacobite James John Wilkes Jonas Hanway kind king land large numbers less London Lord major male military militia monarchy Napoleonic nation never newspapers nineteenth century North organised Oxford Parliament parliamentary reform patrician patriotic peers petitions political popular population propaganda Protestant Protestantism Queen radical Revolution royal Scotland Scots Scottish Scottish Lowlands seemed sense Seven Years War slave slavery social Society Stuart successful Tory towns trade volunteer corps Wales wars Welsh Whig Wilkite William women