Description
Book SynopsisIn
Uniting the Kingdom? a group of the most distinguished historians from Britain and Ireland assemble to consider the question of British identity spanning the period from the Middle Ages to the present.
Traditional chronological and regional frontiers are broken down as medievalists, early modernists and modernists debate the key issues of the British state: the conflicting historiographies, the nature of political tensions and the themes of expansion and contraction.
This outstanding collection of essays forms an illuminating introduction to the most up-to-date thinking about the problems of British histories and identities.
Trade Review'A stimulating collection of essays.' - Nothern History
`A fascinating, provocative and very timely book, Uniting the Kingdom? raises questions which are of relevance to us all, even if the answers implied may not be entirely to anybody's liking.' - The Scotsman
`Excellent collection of essays.' - Alain de Botton, Independent on Sunday
Table of ContentsPart I Prologue 1 Introduction: The enigma of British History 2 British History as a ‘new subject’: Politics, perspectives and prospects Part II Medieval foundations 3 The United Kingdom of England: The Anglo-Saxon achievement 4 Foundations of a disunited kingdom 5 Overlordship and reaction, c. 1200–c. 1450 6 Scottish foundations: Thirteenth-century perspectives Late medieval contributions Part III Building the early modern state 7 The High Road from Scotland: Stewarts and Tudors in the mid-sixteenth century, One king, two kingdoms, 8 Composite monarchies in early modern Europe: The British and Irish example 9 Irish, Scottish and Welsh responses to centralisation, c. 1530–c. 1640: A comparative perspective 10 Three kingdoms and one commonwealth? The enigma of mid-seventeenth-century Britain and Ireland Part IV The age of Union 11 Varieties of Britishness: Ireland, Scotland and Wales in the Hanoverian state 12 A nation defined by Empire, 1755–1776 13 Englishness and Britishness: National identities, c. 1790–c. 1870 14 An imperial and multinational polity: The ‘scene from the centre’, 1832–1922 15 Letting go: The Conservative Party and the end of the Union with Ireland Part V Epilogue 16 How united is the modern United Kingdom? 17 Conclusion: Contingency, identity, sovereignty
