British Policy and European Reconstruction after the First World War is a study of the political economy of Europe after 1919. Dr Orde provides a comprehensive overview of all aspects of reconstruction: financial stabilization, credit, trade and development. She shows how policies were much affected by the connected problems of reparations and war debts. In all this, Britain, as a major trading nation and financial centre, weakened by the war but less physically damaged than many belligerents, played a crucial role which has not hitherto received comprehensive treatment. Dr Orde examines the...

The brothers Matthew and George Culley were successful farmers in Northumberland in the late eighteenth century. They contributed greatly to the improvement of agriculture in their area and beyond, notably through sheep breeding (the Culley sheep' or Border Leicester), and also by practising and inculcating the use of modern techniques of husbandry and modern crop varieties. The letters presented here, written to the steward of the farms they owned in County Durham, give a detailed day by day account of the Culleys' farming activities, advice and instructions on cultivation, the movement and...

John Buddle (1773-1843), the most eminent coal viewer and mining engineer and manager of his day, worked for a number of different coal owners in North-East England. In particular, for over twenty years he acted as colliery manager for Charles Stewart, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry. In this capacity Buddle wrote to his employer more than 2,000 letters, of which this book provides a selection. They give not only a detailed, and at times almost a day-to-day account of the coal trade of the Tyne and Wear at a time when the industry was expanding rapidly, but also a discussion of Lord Londonderry's...