This is a study of the organized anti-Catholic movement in nineteenth-century Britain. The passing of the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 was in some respects a triumph for religious toleration, but it was followed by a substantial Protestant backlash. This was further stimulated by the theological and evangelistic concerns of evangelicals, the growth of Catholicism in Britain, and the political actions of Irish and British Tories.

In this meticulously researched book, John Wolffe examines the anti-Catholic societies which played an important part in the shaping of public opinion, and...

This is a detailed and scholarly study of social policy in Weimar Germany. The Weimar Republic gave German youth new social rights and a pledge of generous educational and welfare provision. Public social and welfare policies would, it was hoped, banish the spectre of delinquent and rebellious youth, and ensure that the future citizens, workers, and mothers of Germany's new democracy would be well-adjusted, efficient, and healthy. But how far could the would-be architects of modern technocratic welfare realize their vision in the midst of the economic and political instability of the Great...

Before the advent of television, reading was among the most popular of leisure activities. `Light' fiction - romances, thrillers, westerns - was the sustenance of millions in wartime and in peace. This lively and scholarly study examines the size and complexion of the reading public and the development of an increasingly commercialized publishing industry in the early twentieth century.

Joseph McAleer uses a wide variety of sources, including the Mass Observation Archive and previously confidential publishers' records, to explore the nature of popular fiction and its readers. He analyses the...

This is a study of the major landholders of England and their estates during the reign of Edward the Confessor. It is the first comprehensive analysis of the lay landholders recorded in Domesday Book. Peter A. Clarke examines not only the great earls but also lesser lords with significant holdings, and the complex network of relationships based on land. As well as Domesday, Dr Clarke makes full use of all other available evidence, such as chronicles and charters, and skilfully builds a detailed and convincing picture of landholding and lordship in eleventh-century England. He assesses the...

This is a study of the political and social structure of late medieval England. Dr Payling examines the wealth and political influence of a dozen Nottinghamshire families who dominated their county during the first half of the fifteenth century. His analysis shifts the historical emphasis from the barons at the head of their affinities to the greater gentry as members of well-defined shire establishments. This carefully researched study reassesses the nature of baronial-gentry relations, and establishes the true extent of the influence of the greater gentry. His book is both an important...

This first biography of Richard, third Duke of York, examines the political opposition of a great lord to Henry VI's regime.

Active in the government of Lancastrian Normandy, he served twice as lieutenant of Ireland where, on his second visit, he did much to consolidate the trend towards Irish autonomy. The major interest of his career, however, lies in the increasing isolation of a once loyal subject. Suspect in the late 1440s, and even more so after the great revolt of 1450, he was driven into opposition during the following decade despite serving for two effective periods - here...