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Empire, State, and Society: Britain since 1830

ISBN: 978-1-405-18181-5

February 2012

Wiley-Blackwell

352 pages

Description
EMPIRE, STATE, AND SOCIETY

“This book captures the broad-sweep of modern British history. Bronstein and Harris’s narrative is distinguished by its comprehensive coverage, readability, and sure judgment. It is an excellent book.”
James Epstein, Vanderbilt University

“This is a well-structured and gracefully written textbook that undergraduates at American universities and colleges should find highly accessible. It integrates recent scholarly trends into a compelling narrative that brings together metropolitan and imperial themes. These themes are illuminated by well-chosen anecdotes that make them come alive. Bronstein and Harris have provided an excellent introduction to modern Britain and its Empire, and one that deserves a wide readership.”
Phil Harling, University of Kentucky

In the nineteenth century, Great Britain was a world-recognized superpower. Tremendous economic growth fostered a daunting formal empire, global networks of trade and investment, and a formidable military. By the late twentieth century this position of dominance had eroded significantly under the stress of two world wars, rising nationalist movements, shifting geopolitics, and the transformation to a post-industrial economy. As Britain adjusts to her new place in the post-colonial world, Empire, State, and Society assesses the external and internal forces behind these transformations.

The authors draw on the most recent scholarship to give due importance to social, economic, and cultural changes as well as politics and international diplomacy. Divided into chapters both chronologically and thematically, Empire, State, and Society enables detailed exploration of issues such as race, gender, religion, and the environment. In doing so, the book provides an accessible, comprehensive, and balanced introduction to British history.

About the Author

Jamie L. Bronstein is Professor of History at New Mexico State University. She is the author of three books: Land Reform and Working-Class Experience in Britain and the United States, 1800-1862 (1999), Caught in the Machinery: Workplace Accidents and Injured Workers in Nineteenth-Century Britain (2008), and Transatlantic Radical: John Francis Bray (2009).

 Andrew T. Harris is Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs at Bridgewater State University. He is the author of Policing the City: Crime and Legal Authority in London, 1780-1840 (2004).

Features
  • Assesses the internal and external forces behind the transformation of Britain as superpower to its position in the twenty-first century
  • Offers a crucial comparative dimension which sets the experience of Britain alongside that of twenty-first-century superpower, the United States of America
  • Draws on recent scholarship to provide a highly current perspective
  • Organised to allow professors to assign readings with more or less depth as student abilities and course lengths allow
  • Written in a style that is wholly accessible and exciting for undergraduates in both the US and the UK