Description
Book SynopsisThis investigation of how societies have understood and described themselves is concerned both with the history of language and the language of history. Chapters include studies of societies in Germany, China, USA and India, pre-revolutionary France and 19th-century Britain and America.
Table of ContentsIntroduction, Penelope J.Corfield; estates, degrees and sorts - changing perceptions of society in Tudor and Stuart England, Keigh Wrightson; "hidalgo" and "pechero" - the language of "estates" and "classes" in early-modern Castile, I.A.A.Thompson; definitions of nobility in 17th century France, Roger Mettam; class by name and munber in 18th-century Britain, Penelope J.Corfield; the emergence of "Society" in 18th and 19th century Germany, James Van Horn Melton; from gentlemen to the residuum - languages of social description in Victorian Britain, Geoffrey Crossick; "To each a language of his own" language, culture and society in colonial India, David Washbrook; the language of representation - towards a Muslim political order in 19th century India, Farzana Shaikh; Chinese views of social classification, Philip A.Kuhn; languages of power in the United States, Daniel T.Rodgers and Sean Wilentz; language and interpretation - Paul Robeson before the House Committee on Un-American activities, William Downes.
