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'It is the history of a revolution that went wrong - and of the excellent excuses that were forthcoming at every step for the perversion of the original doctrine', wrote Orwell for the first edition of Animal Farm in 1945. Orwell wrote it at the end of 1943, but it almost remained unpublished. Its savage attack on Stalin, at that time Britain's ally, led to it being refused by publisher after publisher. Orwell's simple, tragic fable, telling what happens when the animals drive out Mr Jones and attempt to run the farm themselves, has since become a world-famous classic.

THE AUTHORITATIVE TEXT

Cities of Ideas: Civil Society and Urban Governance in Britain 1800-2000 addresses the changing nature of individualism and public service in the 19th and 20th centuries, and consists of a collection of essays authored by senior figures in economic, social, cultural and educational history. The question of the balance between the life of the private citizen and the need to play an active role in the wider community, is one that recurs throughout history. In this book the shifting nature of civic responsibility between 1800 and 1990 is addressed, looking at the balance of individual and collective responsibilities as well as obligation to a growing democratic state. The ten essays by leading scholars in the field of urban and social history offer fresh and important insights into governance and civil society in the modern period.

Cities of Ideas: Civil Society and Urban Governance in Britain 1800-2000 addresses the changing nature of individualism and public service in the 19th and 20th centuries, and consists of a collection of essays authored by senior figures in economic, social, cultural and educational history. The question of the balance between the life of the private citizen and the need to play an active role in the wider community, is one that recurs throughout history. In this book the shifting nature of civic responsibility between 1800 and 1990 is addressed, looking at the balance of individual and collective responsibilities as well as obligation to a growing democratic state. The ten essays by leading scholars in the field of urban and social history offer fresh and important insights into governance and civil society in the modern period.

Why did killing a fox mean liberty? What did parish revels have to do with the Peterloo Massacre? What did animal cruelty have to do with the English constitution? What did the Factory Acts mean for modern football? In This Sporting Life, Robert Colls explains sport as one of England's great civil cultures. The lived experiences of people from all walks of life are reclaimed to tell England's history through its great sporting cultures, from the horseback pursuits of the wealthy and politically connected, to the street games in working-class neighbourhoods which needed nothing but a ball. It observes people at play, describes how they felt and thought, carries the reader along to a match or a hunt or a fight, draws out the sounds and smells of humans and animals, showing that sport has been as important in defining British culture as gender, politics, education, class, and religion.

Why did killing a fox mean liberty? What did parish revels have to do with the Peterloo Massacre? What did animal cruelty have to do with the English constitution? What did the Factory Acts mean for modern football? In This Sporting Life, Robert Colls explains sport as one of England's great civil cultures. The lived experiences of people from all walks of life are reclaimed to tell England's history through its great sporting cultures, from the horseback pursuits of the wealthy and politically connected, to the street games in working-class neighbourhoods which needed nothing but a ball. It observes people at play, describes how they felt and thought, carries the reader along to a match or a hunt or a fight, draws out the sounds and smells of humans and animals, showing that sport has been as important in defining British culture as gender, politics, education, class, and religion.

THE NORTH EAST is probably England's most distinctive region. A place of strong character with a very special sense of its past, it is, as William Hutchinson remarked in 1778, 'truly historical ground'. This is a book about both the ancient Anglian kingdom of Northumbria, which stretched from the Humber to the Scottish border, and the ways in which the idea of being a Northumbrian, or a northerner, or someone from the 'North East', persisted in the area long after the early English kingdom had fallen. It examines not only the history of the region, but also the successive waves of identity that history has bestowed over a very long period of time. Northumbria existed before 'England' began but is with us still in name, and in the way we think about ourselves. A series of sections, entitled Christian Kingdom, Borderland and Coalfield, New Northumbria, Cultural Region and Northumbrian Island, explore the region on the grand scale, from its very beginning, and bring a sharp sense of history to bear on the various threads that have influenced the making of modern regional identity. The book is a work of exceptional scholarship. Never before have so many leading historians addressed together the issues which have affected this special region. Clearly written, and rich in ideas, chapters explore the physical origins of Northumbria and consider just how the pressing political and military claims of adjoining states shaped and tempered it. There are further chapters on art, music, mythology, dialect, history, economy, poetry, politics, religion, antiquarianism, literature and settlement. They show how Northumbrians have lived and died, and looked forward and back, and these accounts of the North East's past will surely help in the shaping of its future.

'Englishness' is by no means the defining quality of those living in the territory that has come to be England, but a concept that has been made and remade throughout history, expressing itself through existing symbols and ideas. This volume of wide-ranging essays constitutes a major work on English national identity and patriotism as it evolved during the period1880-1920, has had a significant impact on writing and research in the field and is considered a definitive text for students of modern British history and many other courses in politics, sociology and literature. Divided into two sections, essays in the first half of the book explore Englishness and national culture, considering the English rural ideology that endured in spite of England's status as an industrial nation; the invention of English literature; the identity of English music and the reception of Elgar; and the constructed image of the 'Englishwoman' in the period. The second half of the book focuses on political culture, with essays discussing the Irish as 'marginal Britons'; the permeation of Liberalism into English society and politics after the fall of the party itself; the relationship between patriotism and Conservative politics; and the perhaps lesser-known role played by socialism in the construction of Englishness. This updated edition of "Englishness" contains a new introduction and afterword, which set this key work in the context of research done since its original publication and relate it to current debates on the topic of Britain as a multi-national state. This important volume contains ideas that are still pertinent today, and its enduring contemporary relevance makes it essential reading for students and scholars.

'Englishness' is by no means the defining quality of those living in the territory that has come to be England, but a concept that has been made and remade throughout history, expressing itself through existing symbols and ideas. This volume of wide-ranging essays constitutes a major work on English national identity and patriotism as it evolved during the period1880-1920, has had a significant impact on writing and research in the field and is considered a definitive text for students of modern British history and many other courses in politics, sociology and literature. Divided into two sections, essays in the first half of the book explore Englishness and national culture, considering the English rural ideology that endured in spite of England's status as an industrial nation; the invention of English literature; the identity of English music and the reception of Elgar; and the constructed image of the 'Englishwoman' in the period. The second half of the book focuses on political culture, with essays discussing the Irish as 'marginal Britons'; the permeation of Liberalism into English society and politics after the fall of the party itself; the relationship between patriotism and Conservative politics; and the perhaps lesser-known role played by socialism in the construction of Englishness. This updated edition of "Englishness" contains a new introduction and afterword, which set this key work in the context of research done since its original publication and relate it to current debates on the topic of Britain as a multi-national state. This important volume contains ideas that are still pertinent today, and its enduring contemporary relevance makes it essential reading for students and scholars.

An intellectual who did not like intellectuals, a socialist who did not trust the state, a writer of the left who found it easier to forgive writers of the right, a liberal who was against free markets, a Protestant who believed in religion but not in God, a fierce opponent of nationalism who defined Englishness for a generation. Aside from being one of the greatest political essayists in the English language and author of two of the most famous books in twentieth century literature, George Orwell was a man of many fascinating contradictions, someone who liked to go against the grain because he believed that was where the truth usually lay. George Orwell. English Rebel takes us on a journey through the many twists and turns of Orwell's life and thought, from the precocious public school satirist at Eton and the imperial policeman in Burma, through his early years as a rather dour documentary writer, down and out on the streets of Paris and London and on the road to Wigan pier, o his formative experiences as a volunteer soldier in the Spanish Civil War. Above all, the book skilfully traces Orwell's gradual reconciliation with his country, a journey which began down a coal mine in 1936 to find its exhilarating peaks during the dark days of the Second World War.

Only twenty years ago, English Identity was not in question. Indeed it was hardly recognized as a subject for discussion, except perhaps in rather an ironic vein. Now, as certainty has given way to concern and every aspect of national life is changing with revolutionary speed, the 'national question' is back on the agenda. Robert Colls's Identity of England tells the long and fascinating history of this old and powerful idea.