In this original and illuminating new study, Mark Knights reveals
how the political culture of the eighteenth century grew out of
earlier trends and innovations. Arguing that the period from 1675
needs to be seen as the second stage of a seventeenth-century
revolution that ran on until c.1720, Representation and
Misrepresentation in Later Stuart Britain charts the growth of a
national political culture and traces the development of the public
as an arbiter of politics. In doing so, it uncovers a crisis of
public discourse and credibility, and finds a political
enlightenment rooted in local and national partisan conflict. The
later Stuart period was characterized by frequent elections, the
lapse of pre-publication licensing, the emergence of party
politics, the creation of a public debt, and ideological conflict
over popular sovereignty. These factors combined to enhance the
status of the 'public', not least in requiring it to make numerous
acts of judgement. Contemporaries from across the political
spectrum feared that the public might be misled by the
misrepresentations pedalled by their rivals. Each side, and those
ostensibly of no side, discerned a culture of passion, slander,
libel, lies, hypocrisy, dissimulation, conspiracy, private
languages, and fictions. 'Truth' appeared an ambiguous, political
matter. Yet the reaction to partisanship was also creative, for it
helped to construct an ideal form of political discourse. This was
one based on reason rather than passion, on moderation rather than
partisan zeal, on critical reading rather than credulity; and an
increasing realization that these virtues arose from infrequent
rather than frequent elections. Finding synergies between social,
political, religious, scientific, literary, cultural, and
intellectual history, Representation and Misrepresentation in Later
Stuart Britain reinvigorates the debate about the emergence of 'the
public sphere' in the later Stuart period.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
