An indepth look at Joseph Cowen--newspaper magnate, radical activist, and member of parliament for the Liberal party--this compilation brings together ethnic and urban studies, and considers the role of the press in building a radical power base. During his political career, Cowen drew upon a coalition of support from working-class associations, the Irish community, and regional interest groups, and this study of his life describes how he remarkably championed the cause of the underdog.
This book examines a diverse set of civic war memorials in North East England commemorating three clusters of conflicts: the Crimean War and Indian Rebellion in the 1850s; the ‘small wars’ of the 1880s; and the Boer War from 1899 to 1902. Encompassing a protracted timeframe and embracing disparate social, political and cultural contexts, it analyses how and why war memorials and commemorative practices changed during this key period of social transition and imperial expansion. In assessing the motivations of the memorial organisers and the narratives they sought to convey, the author argues that developments in war commemoration were primarily influenced by – and reflected – broader socio-economic and political transformations occurring in nineteenth-century and early-twentieth century Britain.
Local history in Britain can trace its origins back to the sixteenth century and before, but it was given inspiration and a new sense of direction in the 1950s and 60s by the work of W.G. Hoskins. This book marks the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of his Local history in England which was designed to help people researching the history of their own villages and towns. It is the result of a collaboration between academic historians in the Centre for English Local History at the University of Leicester, which Hoskins founded, and the British Association for Local History, an organisation that brings together the thousands of people who are not professional academics but who practise local history. Taking the work of Hoskins as a starting point, the contributors show how local history is being researched and written today. Fifteen historians write about a variety of local history subjects which are significant in their own right but which also point to current trends in the subject. They show how local historians use their sources systematically, from the non-verbal evidence of buildings to various types of electronic resources. All periods between the middle ages and the early twenty-first century are explored, as are many different parts of the country from Skye to the Kent coast. There are examples of local historians working on ethnic minorities, gender and the working class. Those who study localities use a variety of approaches, including those of social, economic, religious, legal, intellectual and cultural history, all of which are employed here. They are aware of the roots of their subject and examine the history of local history itself. Together, the editors and authors raise the various dilemmas which stimulate debates among local historians about the nature of the subject, its present health and the directions it will take in the next half century.
Is North East England really a coherent and self-conscious region? The essays collected here address this topical issue, from the middle ages to the present day.
With contributions from a range of distinguished Irish and British scholars, this collection of essays provides the first full treatment of the historical relationship between the Labour Party and Ireland in the last century, from Keir Hardie to Tony Blair.
Irelands of the Mind: Memory and Identity in Modern Irish Culture offers a compelling series of essays on changing images of Ireland from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. It seeks to understand the various ways in which Ireland has been thought about, not only in fiction, poetry and drama, but in travel writing and tourist brochures, nineteenth-century newspapers, radio talk shows, film adaptations of fictional works, and the music and songs of Van Morrison and Sinéad O’Connor. The prevailing theme throughout the twelve essays that constitute the book is the complicated sense of belonging that continues to characterise so much of modern Irish culture. Questions of nationhood and national identity are given a new and invigorated treatment in the context of a rapidly changing Ireland and a changing set of intellectual methods and approaches.
This book offers a unique and fascinating examination of British and Irish responses to Italian independence and unification in the mid-nineteenth century. Chapters explore the interplay of religion, politics, exile, feminism, colonialism and romanticism in fuelling impassioned debates on the 'Italian question' on both sides of the Irish Sea.
By providing a comprehensive and multi-layered picture of the troubled relationship between working-class radicals and organised Liberalism in England between 1868 and 1888, Labour and the Caucus offers a new, innovative pre-history of the Labour party.
A critical introduction to the mass political movements that came of age in urban England between the Great Reform Act of 1832 and the start of World War One. Roberts provides a guide to the new approaches to topics such as Chartism, parliamentary reform, Gladstonian Liberalism, popular Conservatism and the independent Labour movement.
