This major collection of essays challenges many of our preconceptions about British political and social history from the late eighteenth century to the present. Inspired by the work of Gareth Stedman Jones, twelve leading scholars explore both the long-term structures - social, political and intellectual - of modern British history, and the forces that have transformed those structures at key moments. The result is a series of insightful, original essays presenting new research within a broad historical context. Subjects covered include the consequences of rapid demographic change in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; the forces shaping transnational networks, especially those between Britain and its empire; and the recurrent problem of how we connect cultural politics to social change. An introductory essay situates Stedman Jones's work within the broader historiographical trends of the past thirty years, drawing important conclusions about new directions for scholarship in the twenty-first century.

Speaking for the People examines the popular appeal of Liberal, Tory and Labour politics between 1867 and 1914. The main theme of the book is a recognition, and exploration, of the problematic relationship between political parties and the people they sought to represent. The book challenges traditional ideas about the "triumph of party" after 1867, suggesting that politics remained much more fluid and unpredictable than historians have often allowed. It is this, the book suggests, that explains why politicians from most parties, including Labour, remained highly ambivalent about the likely consequences of further democratization.

Speaking for the People examines the popular appeal of Liberal, Tory and Labour politics between 1867 and 1914. The main theme of the book is a recognition, and exploration, of the problematic relationship between political parties and the people they sought to represent. The book challenges traditional ideas about the "triumph of party" after 1867, suggesting that politics remained much more fluid and unpredictable than historians have often allowed. It is this, the book suggests, that explains why politicians from most parties, including Labour, remained highly ambivalent about the likely consequences of further democratization.

This major collection of essays challenges many of our preconceptions about British political and social history from the late eighteenth century to the present. Inspired by the work of Gareth Stedman Jones, twelve leading scholars explore both the long-term structures - social, political and intellectual - of modern British history, and the forces that have transformed those structures at key moments. The result is a series of insightful, original essays presenting new research within a broad historical context. Subjects covered include the consequences of rapid demographic change in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; the forces shaping transnational networks, especially those between Britain and its empire; and the recurrent problem of how we connect cultural politics to social change. An introductory essay situates Stedman Jones's work within the broader historiographical trends of the past thirty years, drawing important conclusions about new directions for scholarship in the twenty-first century.

Conflict and cooperation have shaped the American Southwest since prehistoric times. For centuries indigenous groups and, later, Spaniards, French, and Anglo-Americans met, fought, and collaborated with one another in this border area stretching from Texas through southern California. To explore the region's complex past from prehistory to the U.S. takeover, this book uses an unusual multidisciplinary approach. In interviews with ten experts, Deborah and Jon Lawrence discuss subjects ranging from warfare among the earliest ancestral Puebloans to intermarriage and peonage among Spanish settlers and the Indians they encountered. The scholars interviewed form a distinguished array of archaeologists, anthropologists, ethnohistorians, and historians: Juliana Barr, Brian DeLay, Richard and Shirley Flint, John Kessell, Steven LeBlanc, Mark Santiago, Polly Schaafsma, David J. Weber, and Michael Wilcox. All speak forthrightly about complex and controversial issues, and they do so with minimal academic jargon and temporizing, bringing the most reliable information to bear on every subject they discuss. Themes the authors address include the origin and scope of conflicts between ethnic groups and the extent of accommodation, cooperation, and cross-cultural adaptation that also ensued. Seven interviews explore how Indians forced colonizers to modify their behavior. All of the experts explain how they deal with incomplete or biased sources to achieve balanced interpretations. As the authors point out, no single discipline provides a complete, accurate historical picture. Spanish documents must be sifted for political and ideological distortion, the archaeological record is incomplete, and oral traditions erode and become corrupted over time. By assembling the most articulate practitioners of all three approaches, the authors have produced a book that will speak to general readers as well as scholars and students in a variety of fields.

Many commentators tell us that, in today's world, everyday life has become selfish and atomised-that individuals live only to consume. But are they wrong? In Me, Me, Me, Jon Lawrence re-tells the story of England since the Second World War through the eyes of ordinary people-including his own parents- to argue that, in fact, friendship, family, and place all remain central to our daily lives, and whilst community has changed, it is far from dead. He shows how, in the years after the Second World War, people came increasingly to question custom and tradition as the pressure to conform to societal standards became intolerable. And as soon as they could, millions escaped the closed, face-to-face communities of Victorian Britain, where everyone knew your business. But this was not a rejection of community per se, but an attempt to find another, new way of living which was better suited to the modern world. Community has become personal and voluntary, based on genuine affection rather than proximity or need. We have never been better connected or able to sustain the relationships that matter to us. Me, Me, Me makes that case that it's time we valued and nurtured these new groups, rather than lamenting the loss of more 'real' forms of community-it is all too easy to hold on to a nostalgic view of the past.

Many commentators tell us that, in today's world, everyday life has become selfish and atomised-that individuals live only to consume. But are they wrong? In Me, Me, Me, Jon Lawrence re-tells the story of England since the Second World War through the eyes of ordinary people-including his own parents- to argue that, in fact, friendship, family, and place all remain central to our daily lives, and whilst community has changed, it is far from dead. He shows how, in the years after the Second World War, people came increasingly to question custom and tradition as the pressure to conform to societal standards became intolerable. And as soon as they could, millions escaped the closed, face-to-face communities of Victorian Britain, where everyone knew your business. But this was not a rejection of community per se, but an attempt to find another, new way of living which was better suited to the modern world. Community has become personal and voluntary, based on genuine affection rather than proximity or need. We have never been better connected or able to sustain the relationships that matter to us. Me, Me, Me makes that case that it's time we valued and nurtured these new groups, rather than lamenting the loss of more 'real' forms of community-it is all too easy to hold on to a nostalgic view of the past.

The Pastoral is the semi-fictional account of British composers Ralph Vaughan Williams and George Butterworth during the First World War. Both saw active service and witnessed the horrors of trench warfare; Vaughan Williams as a member of the medical corp, while Butterworth fought at the Battle of The Somme. Following the events and timeline that we know to be true, Jon Lawrence offers a hypothesis of what might have happened and considers how the unimaginable terrors of war in France might affect the creative mind. Although the book addresses the violent truth of conflict The Pastoral is also a powerful story of friendship, courage and the power of hope. Jon Lawrence lectures in music at City College Norwich in the UK.

This book is a light hearted look at overcoming life's many trial and tribluations. With a capacity to still laugh at the funny things and cry at the sad. Finding humour in the face of adversity is not always easy but is preferable to being unhappy, as we all know life is just too short. There are moments of laughter in every aspect of life, the trick is finding them!