The forging of the modern state: early industrial Britain, 1783-c.1870 (Fourth edition.)
Evans, Eric J., 1945- author.
Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge,
Year: 2019, ©2019
Description: xiii, 596 pages ; 25 cm
ISBN: 9781138243521 (hardcover ; 9781138243507 (paperback ;

Contents: Britain in the early 1780s I: society and economy -- Britain in the early 1780s II: politics and government -- 'A nation restored' I: politics and finance under Pitt, 1784-90 -- 'A nation restored' II: foreign policy and trade, 1783-93 -- The new political economy and the early impact of laissez-faire -- The new moral economy: Wilberforce, the Saints and New Dissent -- The decline of the Whigs and the emergence of a new Conservatism, 1788-1812 -- Radicalism, repression and patriotism, 1789-1803 -- The wars with France I: Pitt's war, Addington's peace, 1793-1803 -- The wars with France II: endurance and triumph, 1803-15 -- Ireland: the road to Union, 1782-1801 -- Empire I: trade, influence and expansion -- Empire II: rule, resistance and reaction -- The onset of industrialism -- Entrepreneurs and markets -- The structure and organisation of the workforce in early industrial Britain -- A living from the land: landowners, farmers and improvement -- 'Living and partly living': labourers, poverty and protest -- Standards of living and quality of life -- Organisations of labour -- Class consciousness? -- Unprepared for peace: distress and the resurgence of reform, 1815-20 -- An Age of 'Liberalism'? -- Influence without entanglement: foreign affairs, 1815-46 -- The crisis of reform, 1827-32 -- 'The real interest of the aristocracy': the Reform Act of 1832 -- The condition of England question I: the new Poor Law -- The condition of England question II: factory reform, education and public health -- 'The Church in danger': Anglicanism and its opponents -- The Age of Peel? Politics and policies, 1832-46 -- The politics of pressure I: Chartism -- The politics of pressure II: the Anti-Corn Law League -- The zenith of the bourgeoisie -- The professionalisation of government -- Urban Britain in the Age of Improvement -- Religion and society in mid-Victorian Britain -- Leisure and responsibility -- Education and the consciousness of status -- 'An assembly of gentlemen': Party politics, 1846-59 -- Palmerston and the pax Britannica -- The revival of reform -- 'The principle of numbers': toward democracy, 1867-70 -- Imperial issues and domestic spheres -- Identities: a modern State forged?

Abstract:

"In what has established itself as a classic study of Britain from the late eighteenth century to the mid-Victorian period, Eric J. Evans explains how the country became the world's first industrial nation. His book also explains how, and why, Britain was able to lay the foundations for what became the world's largest empire. Over the period covered by this book, Britain became the world's most powerful nation and arguably its first super-power. Economic opportunity and imperial expansion were accompanied by numerous domestic political crises which stopped short of revolution. The book ranges widely: across key political, diplomatic, social, cultural, economic and religious themes in order to convey the drama involved in a century of hectic, but generally constructive, change. Britain was still ruled by wealthy landowners in 1870 as it had been in 1783, yet the society over which they presided was unrecognisable. Victorian Britain had become an urban, industrial and commercial powerhouse. This fourth edition, coming more than fifteen years after its predecessor, has been completely revised and updated in the light of recent research. It engages more extensively with key themes, including gender, national identities and Britain's relationship with its burgeoning empire. Containing illustrations, maps, an expanded 'Framework of Events' and an extensive 'Compendium of Information' on topics such as population change, cabinet membership and significant legislation, the book is essential reading for all students of this crucial period in British history" -- From the publisher.