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Review
'It was Colley's clinical analysis of the political and cultural construction of 18th-century Britain which did so much to kick-start our debate about national identity. The clarity of her prose and cohesiveness of her argument remain bewitching.' Tristram Hunt, BBC History Magazine. 'Controversial, entertaining and alarmingly topical... Not only scholarly, but witty, lively and a delight to read. A book that could hardly present complex and challenging argument with greater lucidity and grace.' Philip Ziegler, Daily Telegraph. 'A very ambitious book.... The general reader cannot fail to enjoy it and the professional historian will be stimulated by it.' J. H. Plumb, Financial Times. 'A book written with such gusto and verve that even a non-academic reader drives through its pages with ease.' Angela Lambert, Independent. 'A remarkable amount of light is shed upon current and coming events by this new study of that elusive thing, the nation... A lavishly researched and illustrated narrative.' J. Enoch Powell, Spectator. 'In this brilliant book... Dr. Colley tells this story with scholarly punctilio, yet also with the brio of an historian who has something serious to say. Time and time again, the arresting connection or the startling detail makes one see familiar ground from a new perspective... It is a rich and stimulating work, which uses illustrations, mainly the cartoons and portraits of the day, with more precise and telling point than any history book I can remember.' Hugo Young, The Guardian. 'A forceful and eloquent analysis of the 'subject, no citizen' mind-set which bound the English, Scots and Welsh together. Impressive prose, and sharp interpretation of visual material, compelled assent.' Christopher Harvie, Times Literary Supplement. 'Challenging, fascinating, enormously well informed.' John Barrell, London Review of Books --BBC History Magazine, Daily Telegraph, Financial Times, Independent, Spectator, The Guardian, TLS, LRB
Product Description
How was Great Britain made? And what does it mean to be British? This brilliant and seminal book examines how a more cohesive British nation was invented after 1707 and how this new national identity was nurtured through war, religion, trade, and empire. Lavishly illustrated and powerful, 'Britons' remains a major contribution to our understanding of Britain's past, and continues to influence ongoing controversies about this polity's survival and future. This edition contains an extensive new preface by the author.
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THIS BOOK IS ABOUT THE FORGING of the British nation between the Act of Union joining Scotland to England and Wales in 1707 and the formal beginning of the Victorian age in 1837. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
THIS BOOK IS ABOUT THE FORGING of the British nation between the Act of Union joining Scotland to England and Wales in 1707 and the formal beginning of the Victorian age in 1837. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you are studying or simply have an interest in Britain in the 18th Century then this is an indespensible book. Whilst I don't entirely agree with her analysis (as suggesting that Protestantism was both necessary and sufficient for 'Britishness' is quite empirically flawed and I'd lean more towards an explanation based on common experience) this book still addresses all of the important issues and areas of the period. It is also well set out and suprisingly easy to read. I studied this period at university, and I must have used this book for every essay I wrote.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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5 reviews
26 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Excellent book, but flawed in its analysis
5 Feb 1998
Format:Hardcover
Linda Colley demonstrates her abilities as a top-shelf social historian in "Britons." Her command of widely diverse source material is remarkable--her presentation of popular ballads, cartoons, and broadsheets is both delightful and interesting. However, in her rush to demonstrate the consensual nature of "Britishness," she glosses over some very difficult issues (like the deliberately omitted question of how the Irish never became "British") and assumes away some others (she exaggerates the importance of the Stuart threat after 1746, and attributes Catholic Emancipation too much to 'popular demand' and too little, as Wellington understood as Prime Minister, to the fact that the Irish would surely fight for it). Although this is an admirable piece of scholarship, it fails to recognize that the peoples of the 'Celtic fringe' were generally dragooned into being British; their early participation in empire-building was more a result of escaping the poverty of Ireland or Scotland than of some newly minted transcendent patriotism. Nevertheless, this book is well worth the read, albeit with a large grain of critical salt.
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Surprisingly good.....
16 Jan 2001
Format:Paperback
I say surprisingly good because I approached this book with some trepidation, there seem to have been an awful lot of books 'explaining' the Georgian Age and this period of history generally. Colley had also picked out a very broad and dynamic period to try to sum up in a relatively limited space. However, I was very pleasantly surprised with this book which I think provides an asset to anybody interested in this period. Colley shows herself to have a very good grasp of her material, but she also manages to bring in a broad range of information - from political movements to ballads, to satires to art - to make some thought-provoking conclusions.
As a social history it is well written but cannot hope to thoroughly cover every issue from the chosen era - a period defined from the Act of Union in 1707 until the start of the Victorian age in 1837. Of course this period of history includes some of the biggest changes in British culture and social structure - the rapid decline of disease, the huge jump in population, the industrial revolution with all its influences on roads, canals, post and so on. Colley instead has limited herself to some major issues and the changes - she divides these subjects up into 8 broad areas, Protestants, Profits, Peripheries, Dominance, Majesty, Womanpower, Manpower and Victories.
Having recently read the Amanda Foreman's biography of Georgiana, 5th Duchess of Devonshire - I was most interested in Colley's discussion under the section on Womanpower, on the role of women in society using the active role of Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire and the role of the caricaturists and satirists of the day and I thought Colley managed to shed new light on the subject and women's role at this time.
However, there were some disappointments - no doubt due to the size of the book versus the topic covered - some things were treated with less thoroughness than they deserved. I felt for instance the problems of the Militia was dealt with in too short a manner. It really was predominantly the post-1803 problems of militia with some minor references to the Militia acts of the previous century. Why is this important? Well the militia did provide a vital role for law and order in a country without a police force, and that the British public were very reluctant to have an armed force at all - however given that a large proportion of the period of this book (1707-1837) was spent at War with France then I think that this subject deserved a bit more thorough treatment.
The book is illustrated in B/W pictures which intersperse the text occassionally. It is very well footnoted and all in all I think an excellent asset for anyone interested in this period.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Superb study of 18th century British identity
5 Mar 2006
Format:Paperback
The topic of "identity," especially national identity, isn't exactly the sexiest topic when it comes to writing History for non-Historians. That is why Linda Colley's "Britons" deserves so much praise; it takes a topic as seemingly mundane as 18th century British Identity and writes about it in such an engaging fashion that this book is hard to put down.
Colley skillfully weaves together the issue of constructing a "British" national identity (one that superimposes itself above English, Scottish, and Welsh identity)with the history of Great Britain in general from 1707-1837, so that one walks away from "Britons" with the feeling that the events of the 18th century were the critical in the idea of what it means to be "British."
I have to admit I wasn't the biggest fan of historical studies of the construction of national identity, but Linda Colley's "Britons" certainly demonstrated just how fascinating a topic it can be- when written properly.
Colley skillfully weaves together the issue of constructing a "British" national identity (one that superimposes itself above English, Scottish, and Welsh identity)with the history of Great Britain in general from 1707-1837, so that one walks away from "Britons" with the feeling that the events of the 18th century were the critical in the idea of what it means to be "British."
I have to admit I wasn't the biggest fan of historical studies of the construction of national identity, but Linda Colley's "Britons" certainly demonstrated just how fascinating a topic it can be- when written properly.
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