Kategoria BISAC: History >> Europe - Great Britain - Georgian Era (1714-1837)

One April evening in 1779, Martha Ray, the pretty mistress of a famous aristocrat, was shot dead at point-blank range by a young clergyman who then attempted to take his own life. Instead he was arrested, tried and hanged. In this fascinating new book, John Brewer, a leading historian of eighteenth-century England, asks what this peculiar little story was all about. Then as now, crimes of passion were not uncommon, and the story had the hallmarks of a great scandal--yet fiction and fact mingled confusingly in all the accounts, and the case was hardly deemed appropriate material for real...

In her own time and in ours, Hannah More (1745-1833) has been seen as a benefactress of the poor, writing and working selflessly to their benefit. Mona Scheuermann argues, however, that More's agenda was not simply to help the poor but to control them, for the upper classes in late eighteenth-century England were terrified that the poor would rise in revolt against Church and King.

As much social history as literary study, In Praise of Poverty shows that More's writing to the poor specifically is intended to counter the perceived rabble rousing of Thomas Paine and other...

She was a spirited young heiress. He was a handsome baronet with a promising career in government. The marriage of Lady Seymour Dorothy Fleming and Sir Richard Worsley had the makings of a fairy tale--but ended as one of the most scandalous and highly publicized divorces in history.

In February 1782, England opened its newspapers to read the details of a criminal conversation trial in which the handsome baronet Sir Richard Worsley attempted to sue his wife's lover for an astronomical sum in damages. In the course of the proceedings, the Worsleys' scandalous sexual arrangements,...

The Crisiswas a London weekly published between January 1775 and October 1776. It was the longest-running weekly pamphlet series printed in the British Atlantic world during those years, and it used unusually bold, pithy language. Neither the longevity of the effort nor the colorful language employed would be reason enough to collect and print all ninety-two issues under one cover in a modern edition.The Crisislays claim to our attention because of its place in the rise of freedom of the press, its self-conscious attempt to create a transatlantic community of protest,...

Joseph Mather was one of the greatest Sheffielders in history. His was the voice of the common person in the turbulent, revolutionary times of the late 18th century. He composed his songs to the rhythm of his hammer as he worked as a file-cutter. Then hollered them out in the streets and pubs of Sheffield on a Saturday night. This was the 18th century jukebox, karaoke and alternative comedy.
This edition adds to the last published version of 1862, with previously unpublished songs and historical background.

The Songs of Joseph Mather ... seared across my mindscape like a...

Joseph Gales was one of the all-time great Sheffielders - forget Joe Cocker, Jessica Ennis-Hill, Sean Bean or Michael Palin. These are all minnows compared to Joseph Gales - and their stories are boring besides that of the Galeses. The Galeses story has been forgotten and has not been brought together in one place before - it is not just something dredged up from history - an irrelevant dusty skeleton. What they tried to do for freedom of the press, and for free speech - principles for which they had to flee the country, principles which they took with them to America and put into practice...