Combining the research of recognized young scholars, this book revisits Britain's much-studied "age of reform," before and after the Great Reform Act of 1832. It demonstrates that "reformers" hoped to reform not only parliament, government, the law and the church, but also medicine and the theater, among other entities. While the study focuses primarily on Britain, it also includes essays on Ireland, the Empire and continental Europe. A substantial introduction provides an overview of the period and its historiography.

Combining the research of recognized young scholars, this book revisits Britain's much-studied "age of reform," before and after the Great Reform Act of 1832. It demonstrates that "reformers" hoped to reform not only parliament, government, the law and the church, but also medicine and the theater, among other entities. While the study focuses primarily on Britain, it also includes essays on Ireland, the Empire and continental Europe. A substantial introduction provides an overview of the period and its historiography.

Inferior Politics explores how social policy was created in Britain in a period when central government was not active in making it. Parliament proved capable of generating national legislation nonetheless--and provided a forum for debate even when it was impossible to mobilize consensus behind any particular plan. In this setting, there was a lively, and surprisingly inclusive, "politics" of social policy-making, in which "inferior" officers of government (what we might call "local authorities") figured prominently.
The book explores institutional structures which shaped these...

Re-imagining Democracy in the Age of Revolutions charts a transformation in the way people thought about democracy in the North Atlantic region in the years between the American Revolution and the revolutions of 1848. In the mid-eighteenth century, 'democracy' was a word known only to the literate. It was associated primarily with the ancient world and had negative connotations: democracies were conceived to be unstable, warlike, and prone to mutate into despotisms. By the mid-nineteenth century, however, the word had passed into general use, although it was still not necessarily an...

Re-imagining Democracy in the Age of Revolutions charts a transformation in the way people thought about democracy in the North Atlantic region in the years between the American Revolution and the revolutions of 1848. In the mid-eighteenth century, 'democracy' was a word known only to the literate. It was associated primarily with the ancient world and had negative connotations: democracies were conceived to be unstable, warlike, and prone to mutate into despotisms. By the mid-nineteenth century, however, the word had passed into general use, although it was still not necessarily an...

Art professor Lydia Drexel has lost her muse. For the first time, she is hopelessly staring at a blank canvas; she's blocked. When she relates her anxiety to colleague and confidant, Dr. Charles Harris, his answer is "the perfect getaway." A stack of books, a case of wine, and a few weeks at his cousin's cabin in the mountains should free her mind. Settling into the picturesque retreat, Lydia intends to focus on her art, along with any issues that might be inhibiting her ability to create. Before she starts to sketch, she meets two young artists who live nearby. Early in their friendship, she...

These essays honour leading historian of early modern England, Paul Slack, by engaging with his work on social policy and the history of political economy. They explore how languages of happiness and suffering developed, and how historians might explore the public employment and subjective experiences of happiness and suffering in this period.