Literacy and Popular Culture
England 1750–1914

A study of how and why literacy spread into every corner of English society between 1750 and 1914.

David Vincent (Author)

9780521457712, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 30 July 1993

376 pages
22.8 x 15.1 x 2.5 cm, 0.625 kg

'This is an ambitious, scholarly and fascinating book of interest not only to specialists and historians but also to a wider public.' The Times Higher Education Supplement

In l750, half the population were unable to sign their names; by l9l4 England, together with a handful of advanced Western countries, had for the first time in history achieved a nominally literate society. This book seeks to understand how and why literacy spread into every corner of English society, and what impact it had on the lives and minds of the common people.

l. Introduction
2. Family
3. Education
4. Work
5. The natural world
6. Imagination
7. Politics
8. Literacy and its uses.

Subject Areas: Linguistics [CF]