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"Who's Who in British Climbing" contains nearly 700 mini
biographies of climbers - the romantics, eccentrics and buffoons
that have made British Climbing what it is: dissolute and hungover
most of the time, with the odd unexpected burst of brilliance.They
form a world class cast of eccentrics ranging from the most
virtuous to the most hedonistically barbarous characters one could
ever hope to meet. At one end of the moral spectrum we have
Archdeacon Hudson Stuck solemnly tutoring his native charges on
ecclesiastical history while making the first ascent of Denali. At
the other there's Satan-loving Aleister Crowley pleasuring himself
in his tent on Kangchenjunga while his helpless avalanched
companions were crying for help a few yards away. In between are
the usual sprinkling of psychotic nut jobs, consummate show-offs
and infuriatingly brilliant athletes.The selection of folk gracing
the pages has been anything but scientifically objective. The
intention has been to include anyone who was born in Britain who
happened to do something significant or interesting anywhere, not
just in the UK.
Comprising five microhistories, this book proposes that the French
Revolution's religious politics in small towns weakened democratic
society to such an extent that it precluded political democracy. It
details two revolutionary dynamics that damaged the civic life of
small towns: social polarisation and the loss of local institutions
that had been a source of social capital as well as a common good.
Detailed narratives about Pont-a-Mousson, Gournay-en-Bray, Vienne,
Haguenau and Is-sur-Tille also reveal that contrary to the view
upheld by many scholars, small-town religious politics extended far
beyond the pivotal Ecclesiastical Oath of 1791. Other developments
- the nationalisation of Church property, the dissolution of
religious orders, and the elimination of bishoprics, chapters,
parishes and collegial churches - also adversely affected the
wellbeing of these small urban communities not only in the
Revolution but also in the two centuries that followed. -- .
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