The Cambridge Social History of Britain, 1750–1950

Now in paperback, a three volume thematic interpretation of the development of modern British society from 1750.

F. M. L. Thompson (Edited by), Alan Armstrong (Contributions by), C. Baber (Contributions by), P. L. Garside (Contributions by), D. W. Howell (Contributions by)

9780521438162, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 19 November 1992

608 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 3.4 cm, 0.88 kg

'These unique, comprehensive, collaborative volumes offer compelling evidence of the richness and vitality of British social history some three decades after its emergence in the later 1950s and early 1960s … certain to become standard reference works charting the course of scholarship at a particular point in time.' Richard A. Soloway, Social Science Quarterly

Whilst in certain quarters it may be fashionable to suppose that there is no such thing as society historians have had no difficulty in finding their subject. The difficulty, rather, is that the advance has occurred through such an outpouring of research and writing that it is hard for anyone but the specialist to keep up with the literature or grasp the overall picture. In these three volumes, as is the tradition in Cambridge Histories, a team of specialists has assembled the jigsaw of recent monographic research and presented an interpretation of the development of modern British society since 1750, from three complementary perspectives: those of regional communities, of the working and living environment, and of social institutions. Each volume is self-contained, and each contribution, thematically defined, contains its own chronology of the period under review. Taken as a whole they offer an authoritative and comprehensive view of the manner and method of the shaping of society in the two centuries of unprecedented demographic and economic change.

1. Town and City F. M. L. Thompson
2. The countryside W. A. Armstrong
3. Scotland 1750–1850 Rosalind Mitchison
4. Scotland 1850–1950 T. C. Smout
5. Wales D. W. Howell and C. Baber
6. The north-west J. K. Walton
7. The north-east D. J. Rowe
8. London and the Home Counties P. L. Garside.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural history [HBTB]