The suffragette movement shattered the domestic tranquillity of Edwardian England. This book is an original and searching study of the formidable organization which led this campaign: the Women's Social and Political Union. With the use of previously unpublished correspondence of Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst, her colleagues and such political leaders as Asquith, Balfour and Lloyd George, the author views the development of ever more extreme and violent forms of militancy not as a series of amusing exploits and incidents but as the carefully calculated political strategy the suffragettes intended it to be. He examines the reasons for the remarkable effectiveness of militant tactics in making women's enfranchisement a political issue of central importance, and shows why militancy failed to secure this right prior to the outbreak of war in August 1914. He assesses, too, the influence of the vast social and political changes wrought by the war on the ultimate success of the campaign in 1918.

The suffragette movement shattered the domestic tranquillity of Edwardian England. This book is an original and searching study of the formidable organization which led this campaign: the Women s Social and Political Union.

With the use of previously unpublished correspondence of Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst, her colleagues and such political leaders as Asquith, Balfour and Lloyd George, the author views the development of ever more extreme and violent forms of militancy not as a series of amusing exploits and incidents but as the carefully calculated political strategy the suffragettes intended it to be. He examines the reasons for the remarkable effectiveness of militant tactics in making women s enfranchisement a political issue of central importance, and shows why militancy failed to secure this right prior to the outbreak of war in August 1914. He assesses, too, the influence of the vast social and political changes wrought by the war on the ultimate success of the campaign in 1918.

During the second half of the 20th century, life in Britain was transformed by radical changes in standards of living, affecting housing, food and transport, as well as by major shifts in social, cultural and moral values. This study examines the diverse developments which so altered the country and its people. Based on extensive research and written in an accessible style, the text examines the remarkable extent to which a marked decline of popular support for orthodox institutions such as the monarcy, religion, marriage and trade unions resulted in a far more flexible and diverse society - a society in which women, the young and members of ethnic minorities played increasingly important roles. It also stresses the extent to which British society has been influenced by foreign developments. Separate chapters on the impact of American culture and European institutions, as well as modern architecture and planning, all explore the ways in which British life has been profoundly affected by factors which are not normally considered by social historians. This book should be of use to undergraduates reading modern British history, as well as students of modern British culture and society. -- .