British society changed radically in the 21st century. Any political party dedicated to preserving the Britain of 1900 would have faced, over time, either major problems of adjustment or the possibility of its own destruction. The British Conservative party was just such a party, its character defined by its commitment to the defence of the British status quo. Yet it has also been one of the most successful political parties in the twentieth century. Not only was it able to adjust itself to the transformation of British society including two world wars and the most catastrophic slump but it was able to win elections more consistently than any of its rivals. This book seeks to show how the Conservatives achieved such a metamorphosis, by identifying the main changes in the British economy and society, and the changing Conservative response.
In practice, there was no single Conservative response to any particular change. The debate within the party revealed a surprisingly large number of responses; yet the range was limited. Indeed, with some simplification, one can see only two general political positions, from which flowed differing proposals on all detailed issues. In describing these two positions, the author suggests a new method of classifying dominant political beliefs in Britain and other Western countries.
This study covers a wide field, bringing together contemporary Conservative politics, economic problems and economic history. The Conservatives were intimately related to the interests of what used to be called British capitalism, and their attitudes to the changes taking place in industry reveal most clearly the changing political priorities of the party. The bookexamines Conservative policy, proposals and attitudes to nationalization and the public sector, to the trade unions and labour, to private business and finally to the economic role of the State, between 1945 and 1964. For those wishing to gain an understanding of the British Conservatives, Nigel Harris detailed and stimulating material will make excellent reading and has been acclaimed since its first publication in 1972.

This work addresses the challenge faced in the management of major cities throughout the world as they adjust to economic reform and, in particular, to becoming more open to the processes operating in worldwide markets. Such processes have already had some dramatic effects on large cities in developed and developing countries - the rapid decline in manufacturing in older industrial cities and the emergence of the servicing city are but two of the more striking outcomes. Based on substantial case studies of cities in the developed and the developing world - Sheffield, Barcelona, Lille, Mexico City, Monterrey, Santiago de Chile, Bogota, Kingston (Jamaica) and Johannesburg - themes are drawn out, extending from structural economic change to policy reactions, new city initiatives, management, planning and finance.

The Thirteenth-Century Animal Turn: Medieval and Twenty-First-Century Perspectives examines a wide range of texts to argue in favour of a thirteenth-century animal turn which not only generated a heightened scholarly awareness of animals but also had major implications for society more generally. Using diverse primary sources, the book considers the role of Aristotle in shaping thirteenth-century perspectives on natural history; Pope Innocent III's encouraging the use of animals in the theological and moral instruction of the laity; the increasing relevance of animals to the promotion and assertion of lay aristocratic identity; and the tension between violence and affection towards animals that pervaded the thirteenth century as it does the twenty-first. Analysing these many considerations, Nigel Harris also argues that the thirteenth century was an era in which traditional conceptions of the fundamental 'anthropological difference' between humans and animals was subjected to increasingly urgent questioning and challenge.

The contributors to this book, first published in 1971, analyse as International Socialists the economic and social issues of modern society. Their findings were controversial, as was the alternative they proposed - the overthrow of the British system and its replacement by a society based on workers' control. A central theme of the book is the need for socialists to have a scientific view of the modern world - a socialist theory.

New essays by outstanding European and American medievalists on major aspects of the most enduring medieval epic. The legend of Tristan and Isolde -- the archetypal narrative about the turbulent effects of all-consuming, passionate love -- achieved its most complete and profound rendering in the German poet Gottfried von Strassburg's verse romance Tristan (ca. 1200-1210). Along with his great literary rival Wolfram von Eschenbach and his versatile predecessor Hartmann von Aue, Gottfried is considered one of three greatest poets produced by medieval Germany, andover the centuries his Tristan has lost none of its ability to attract with the beauty of its poetry and to challenge -- if not provoke -- with its sympathetic depiction of adulterous love. The essays, written by a dozen leading Gottfried specialists in Europe and North America, provide definitive treatments of significant aspects of this most important and challenging high medieval version of the Tristan legend. They examine aspects of Gottfried'sunparalleled narrative artistry; the important connections between Gottfried's Tristan and the socio-cultural situation in which it was composed; and the reception of Gottfried's challenging romance both by later poets inthe Middle Ages and by nineteenth- and twentieth-century authors, composers, and artists -- particularly Richard Wagner. The volume also contains new interpretations of significant figures, episodes, and elements (Riwalin and Blanscheflur, Isolde of the White Hands, the Love Potion, the performance of love, the female figures) in Gottfried's revolutionary romance, which provocatively elevates a sexual, human love to a summum bonum. Will Hasty is Professor of German at the University of Florida. He is the editor of Companion to Wolfram's "Parzival," (Camden House, 1999). Click here to view the introduction (PDF file 83KB)

Footnotes to History brings a novel focus to social history. It is a study of a group family an extended family closely structured through marriages that were either internal or with trusted associates. Its members strove cooperatively for their own mutual benefit. This kind of social entity evolved down the centuries, reaching its zenith in the early nineteenth century. The family portrayed, the Pennells, provides a supreme example of such a united body. John Wilson Croker, his two half-nieces and his best friend all married into it. The size of this group family gave ample scope for marriages between cousins. Most men in it gained prestigious appointments through Crokers patronage, but at the price of giving him their unswerving loyalty. From diaries, personal letters, newspaper articles, Chancery papers and Government documents, Footnotes to History brings the character of family members to life and shows how they interacted. Their personalities are portrayed through a wealth of entertaining anecdotes recorded by their contemporaries. Discussion focuses on the family in the nineteenth century, but how it evolved is also described. With their varied occupations and far-flung travel, the people whose stories are narrated give insight into fascinating but little frequented byways of British social and colonial history, such as intelligence gathering in the seventeenth century and the Newfoundland cod trade in the eighteenth. Their direct participation in events included riding from Dorset to London to warn James II personally of the Duke of Monmouths landing and rescuing Marie Antoinettes daughter from Napoleon. Footnotes to History takes us on a meandering journey through British history brought to life by the experiences of one family over more than two centuries.

This book brings a novel focus to social history. It is a study of a "group family" -- an extended family closely structured though marriages that were either internal or with trusted associates. Its members strove cooperatively for their own mutual benefit. This kind of social entity evolved down the centuries, reaching its zenith in the early nineteenth century. The family portrayed, the Pennells, provides a supreme example of such a united body. John Wilson Croker, his two half-nieces and his best friend all married into it. The size of this "group family" gave ample scope for marriages between cousins. Most men in it gained prestigious appointments through Croker's patronage, but at the price of giving him their unswerving loyalty. From diaries, personal letters, newspaper articles, Chancery papers and Government documents, the book brings the character of family members to life and shows how they interacted. Their personalities are portrayed through a wealth of entertaining anecdotes recorded by their contemporaries. Discussion focuses on the family in the nineteenth century, but how it evolved is also described. With their varied occupations and far-flung travel, the people whose stories are narrated give insight into fascinating but little frequented byways of British social and colonial history, such as intelligence gathering in the seventeenth century and the Newfoundland cod trade in the eighteenth. Their direct participation in events included riding from Dorset to London to warn James II personally of the Duke of Monmouth's landing and rescuing Marie Antoinette's daughter from Napoleon. The book takes us on a meandering journey through British history brought to life by the experiences of one family over more than two centuries.

British society changed radically in the 21st century. Any political party dedicated to preserving the Britain of 1900 would have faced, over time, either major problems of adjustment or the possibility of its own destruction. The British Conservative party was just such a party, its character defined by its commitment to the defence of the British status quo. Yet it has also been one of the most successful political parties in the twentieth century. Not only was it able to adjust itself to the transformation of British society including two world wars and the most catastrophic slump - but it was able to win elections more consistently than any of its rivals. This book seeks to show how the Conservatives achieved such a metamorphosis, by identifying the main changes in the British economy and society, and the changing Conservative response. In practice, there was no single Conservative response to any particular change. The debate within the party revealed a surprisingly large number of responses; yet the range was limited. Indeed, with some simplification, one can see only two general political positions, from which flowed differing proposals on all detailed issues. In describing these two positions, the author suggests a new method of classifying dominant political beliefs in Britain and other Western countries. This study covers a wide field, bringing together contemporary Conservative politics, economic problems and economic history. The Conservatives were intimately related to the interests of what used to be called British capitalism, and their attitudes to the changes taking place in industry reveal most clearly the changing political priorities of the party. The book examines Conservative policy, proposals and attitudes to nationalization and the public sector, to the trade unions and labour, to private business and finally to the economic role of the State, between 1945 and 1964. For those wishing to gain an understanding of the British Conservatives, Nigel Harris' detailed and stimulating material will make excellent reading and has been acclaimed since its first publication in 1972.

The contributors to this book, first published in 1971, analyse as International Socialists the economic and social issues of modern society. Their findings were controversial, as was the alternative they proposed - the overthrow of the British system and its replacement by a society based on workers' control. A central theme of the book is the need for socialists to have a scientific view of the modern world - a socialist theory.

This Festschrift for Ronald Speirs, Professor of German at the University of Birmingham, contains twenty-four original essays by scholars from Great Britain, Germany, Austria, and Norway. Between them they encompass the entire modern period from the later eighteenth century onwards, and focus on a wide range of German-speaking environments. Several essays throw new light on authors to whom Professor Speirs himself has devoted particular attention (such as Brecht, Thomas Mann, Nietzsche, and Fontane), whilst others discuss writers such as Lenz, Buchner, B¨ohlau, C. F. Meyer, Keyserling, Jahnn, and Huch. Above all, however, the contributions address the complexities of writing in ideologically diverse contexts, including the Third Reich and the former German Democratic Republic. This interplay between text and context is the cornerstone which links all the essays, as it has consistently informed Ronald Speirs's own work - which combines a scrupulous attention to textual detail with an acute awareness of the socio-political milieux and philosophical influences that shape creative literature.

This volume contains an entirely new and accessible translation into modern English of the medieval Latin Gesta Romanorum. Based on the standard Gesta edition by Hermann OEsterley, it is the first such translation to appear since 1824, and the first to take appropriate account of modern scholarly priorities. The Gesta Romanorum are tales drawn from a wide variety of sources, such as classical mythology, legend and historical chronicles, and are accompanied in almost every case by allegorical Christian interpretations. They were enormously popular throughout the Middle Ages, and had a huge influence on many other authors, such as Boccaccio, Chaucer, Gower, Hoccleve, Shakespeare, Bernard Shaw and Thomas Mann. The Gesta is therefore a foundational work of western European literature - as well as one whose lively, well-crafted and often entertaining narratives hold a continuing appeal for contemporary readers. -- .

This updated edition of Mandate of Heaven - with a new introduction by the author - discusses China's transformation from a poor country devastated by war into a major world power. How did this change come about? What are the real living conditions of the peasants and the workers? MANDATE OF HEAVEN seeks to answer these questions and more.

This book tells the story of my journey through boarding school and onto offshore radio in the North Sea. It is a recollection of events from my perception only, which took place during my time on a number of radioships. As you will read, sheer dedication and strength of mind was required by all parties over the years to allow the offshore enterprises to survive. Radio Caroline was the central passion for me, as it was for so many others, and I felt it was never on the cards to give up the fight to survive at sea. Nevertheless, remembering every event, and those people involved, was difficult and I trust I do not upset anybody by telling stories they would rather forget. (No malice is intended by anything written in this tome) A few names have been left out to spare embarrassment, but I hope the narrative remains complete. Memories from my younger days are included, as I would like to think they help complete the overall picture of how I thought and behaved, and what shaped me as I grew up.

New essays on the first flowering of German literature, in the High Middle Ages and especially during the period 1180-1230. The High Middle Ages, and particularly the period from 1180 to 1230, saw the beginnings of a vibrant literary culture in the German vernacular. While significant literary achievements in German had already been made in earlier centuries, they were a somewhat precarious vernacular extension of Christian Latin culture. But the vernacular literary culture of the High Middle Ages was an integral part of broader cultural developments in which the unquestioned validity of traditional authoritative models began to lose its hold. A secular culture began to emerge in which positive value began to be attached to the -- however transitory -- allegiances, pleasures, and loves of life. In new essays dealing with the most significant literary genres (the heroic epics, the romances, the love lyrics, and political poetry) and with broader political, social, and cultural issues (control of aggression, territorialization), this third volume of the Camden House History of German Literature demonstrates how the emergence of a vernacular literary culture in Germany was an important part of a broader cultural transformation in which medieval people began to redefine themselves, their relationships to one another, and the position of humanity in the scheme of things. Contributors: Albrecht Classen, Nicola McLelland, Rodney Fisher, Neil Thomas, Marion Gibbs and Sidney Johnson, Rudiger Krohn, Will Hasty, Nigel Harris, Susann Samples, Sara Poor, Michael Resler, Rudiger Brandt, Elizabeth A. Andersen, Ulrich Muller and Franz Viktor Spechtler, Ruth Weichselbaumer, W. H. Jackson, Charles Bowlus. Will Hasty is Professor of German Studies and co-founder and co-director of the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida.

This is the first undergraduate textbook to fully integrate results from geophysics, geochemistry, and petrology to describe the structure, composition, and dynamic processes that operate throughout the solid Earth. It presents an Earth system science approach to studies of the Earth's interior and develops a global view of solid Earth cycles to explain geodynamic and plate tectonic processes. This book initially explores the formation and evolution of the early Earth, then considers the operative forces for plate tectonic movements at the Earth's surface, and finally discusses global cycles within the deep Earth and their effect on the surface environment. Interactions between the geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere, and their influence at and beneath the Earth's surface are examined in detail. This textbook thus provides a concise yet extensive coverage of the solid Earth. Written for intermediate undergraduates, it includes a wealth of features to support student learning at this level.

This volume contains an entirely new and accessible translation into modern English of the medieval Latin Gesta Romanorum. Based on the standard Gesta edition by Hermann OEsterley, it is the first such translation to appear since 1824, and the first to take appropriate account of modern scholarly priorities. The Gesta Romanorum are tales drawn from a wide variety of sources, such as classical mythology, legend and historical chronicles, and are accompanied in almost every case by allegorical Christian interpretations. They were enormously popular throughout the Middle Ages, and had a huge influence on many other authors, such as Boccaccio, Chaucer, Gower, Hoccleve, Shakespeare, Bernard Shaw and Thomas Mann. The Gesta is therefore a foundational work of western European literature - as well as one whose lively, well-crafted and often entertaining narratives hold a continuing appeal for contemporary readers. -- .

Nigel Harris's Selected Essays: From National Liberation to Globalisation presents an encompassing overview of the work of one of the most prolific and insightful Marxist economists of the second half of the twentieth century. The collected essays deal with topics ranging from imperialism and the state to the political economy of development and migration

Errol Harris was a greatly respected and influential philosopher and public intellectual in North America, Britain and Europe in the 20th century. His autobiography provides insight into the influences that contributed to the shaping of his remarkable character and career. In these recollections Harris reveals a keen eye as he presents memories of growing up in several parts of South Africa in the early 20th century; childhood and youth in a close-knit but sometimes financially challenged Jewish family of fairly strict religious observance; an account of inspiring intellectual experiences as an undergraduate and graduate at Rhodes College, Grahamstown (1925-29); teaching black South African university undergraduates at Fort Hare in 1929-30; studying philosophy at Oxford (1931-33) with many of the most celebrated figures on the Oxford faculty from that period; teaching at British public schools in the mid-1930's; a short, unhappy, but adventure-filled stint as secretary to the Minister of Mines for Southern Rhodesia; tales of his experiences as an Education Officer for the British Colonial Service, inspecting remote village schools on horseback in Basutoland and Zanzibar in the late 1930's, just prior to the outbreak of the war. He also recounts the religious experiences over these years that eventually led him to join the Church of England. Over the course of his long life, Errol demonstrated a serious concern for the common weal, along with a strongly-developed social conscience. Confronted with a range of historic challenges, including some of the most acute evils arising in the course of the twentieth century, he met the most serious of them head-on with a direct, resolute, and public response, calling upon all to embark on a path of sanity and reason toward a goal of mutual well-being. The book also covers his research and his writing of his fully realized and comprehensive philosophical system on the concept of mind, or consciousness, and its relation to the world. Excerpted from the Introduction.

This concise undergraduate textbook brings together Earth and biological sciences to explore the co-evolution of the Earth and life over geological time. Written for a one-semester course, it explores the Earth system at and above the surface of the Earth by examining the interactions and feedback processes between the geosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. It also explains how the Earth's surface environment involves a complex interplay between these systems. Through a wealth of features and student questioning, the book allows students to understand how physical controls make our planet hospitable for life, investigate the processes of global change that operate on a range of timescales, understand important cross-disciplinary connections and explore how the whole Earth system has evolved. Finally, it assesses how and why the climate of the Earth has varied over geological time, and considers whether life itself is passive or an active agent for change.

This is the first undergraduate textbook to fully integrate results from geophysics, geochemistry, and petrology to describe the structure, composition, and dynamic processes that operate throughout the solid Earth. It presents an Earth system science approach to studies of the Earth's interior and develops a global view of solid Earth cycles to explain geodynamic and plate tectonic processes. This book initially explores the formation and evolution of the early Earth, then considers the operative forces for plate tectonic movements at the Earth's surface, and finally discusses global cycles within the deep Earth and their effect on the surface environment. Interactions between the geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere, and their influence at and beneath the Earth's surface are examined in detail. This textbook thus provides a concise yet extensive coverage of the solid Earth. Written for intermediate undergraduates, it includes a wealth of features to support student learning at this level.

This concise undergraduate textbook brings together Earth and biological sciences to explore the co-evolution of the Earth and life over geological time. Written for a one-semester course, it explores the Earth system at and above the surface of the Earth by examining the interactions and feedback processes between the geosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. It also explains how the Earth's surface environment involves a complex interplay between these systems. Through a wealth of features and student questioning, the book allows students to understand how physical controls make our planet hospitable for life, investigate the processes of global change that operate on a range of timescales, understand important cross-disciplinary connections and explore how the whole Earth system has evolved. Finally, it assesses how and why the climate of the Earth has varied over geological time, and considers whether life itself is passive or an active agent for change.