The debate over "Britain in decline" still rages in the academic, political and public spheres. In this concise undergraduate book, B.W.E. Alford examines Britain's economic development within a framework of political, social and cultural factors, including topics such as the alleged process of deindustrialization, the role of sterling, labor relations and the impact of government policy. Professor Alford provides a clear and essential introduction to the subject, yet shows how complex and deep-rooted are the causes of the "British Disease."

The Irish Famine of 1846-50 was one of the great disasters of the nineteenth century. Cormac O Grada's concise survey puts the Famine in the context of the Irish economy, assesses the Famine itself, and discusses its many consequences. Despite a devastating food shortage, the huge death toll of one million was hardly inevitable; a less doctrinaire attitude to famine relief could perhaps have saved many lives. This book provides an up-to-date introduction to an event of major importance in the history of nineteenth-century Ireland and Britain.

Why did slums and suburbs develop simultaneously? Were class antagonisms to blame? Why did the Victorians believe there was a housing problem? The history of housing between 1780 and 1914 encapsulates many problems associated with the transition from a largely rural to an overwhelmingly urban nation, whose unprecedented pace imposed immense tensions within society. This book reviews the recent arguments and guides the student of social history to further reading, making it an ideal introduction to a central issue in nineteenth-century history.

The Poor Law had a profound impact on English society. Designed to reform the poor as much as to relieve poverty, it also shaped institutions of government and determined people's expectations and assumptions about social welfare. The English Poor Law, 1531-1782 provides a concise synthesis of recent scholarly work together with full references, explaining the origins of this unique system of welfare, and showing how it played a central role in English social and political development from the Reformation to the Industrial Revolution.

Why did sixty million people leave Europe for overseas destinations between 1815 and 1930? What were the social and economic causes and effects of this mass migration? Why did some people emigrate and not others, and why did so many emigrants return to Europe? This short, comprehensive survey answers these and other questions regarding emigration from different parts of Europe. Written specifically for undergraduate students, it reviews the current literature in several European languages, summarizes both economic and demographic theories, and analyzes the relation between economic change in...

What was the state of English towns between 1400 and 1640? It was once accepted that they were generally in decline or suffering serious problems of poverty and economic crisis. This generalization has been strongly challenged, and this book guides the reader through the controversy, summarizes the opposing cases, and attempts a reasoned compromise involving new information from the author's own research. An extensive bibliography with notes helps the reader to come to his or her own conclusions. This is a book for both students beginning the study of the subject and for their teachers.

In recent years the study of the history of education has flourished and expanded. It has moved from being a specialist interest to one that concerns economic and social historians, who see that education has played a central part in the discussion of industrial development and the formation of the social structure. In this study, revised and updated throughout, Dr. Sanderson reviews the history of education in the nineteenth century and the academic debates surrounding it. He examines the discussion surrounding literacy, its trends and significance in the creation of an industrial labor...

In recent years, the history of universities has become a thriving field of research, but no convenient summary has been available. This book offers a clear and concise introduction to the subject. It surveys the debate on the significance of British university development, and relates it to general questions about British social history. It asks how far the nature of British elites has changed since Victorian times, what contribution universities have made to social mobility, and whether higher education, despite its recent expansion, has really become more democratic.

Understanding French economic development in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries has always proved a formidable challenge for historians. This concise survey is designed to make clear the areas of controversy among historians, and to guide the reader through the debates. The author provides succinct surveys of recent findings on the pattern of development, and on the underlying causes of that pattern. He argues that France provides a quietly successful case of economic development, avoiding the massive social upheaval experienced elsewhere in Europe.

Over the past twenty years population history has become a thriving field of research. In this concise volume, Dr. Houston reviews all the recent literature and explains the different population trends evident in parts of Britain and Ireland. He sets out the sometimes complex interactions among fertility, nuptiality, morality and migration in a clear and comprehensible way, and examines a wide range of topics such as plague and smallpox, childbirth, illegitimacy, migration within Britain and emigration to America.