James Smith (1989) is study of this hitherto-neglected maker of colonial culture, and traces the rise and decline of the transplanted ideas and values that Smith and many of his fellow immigrants to Australia upheld. It reveals the remarkable vigour with which Smith set about making a new society out of the legacy of the old, and which saw the transformation of Melbourne from gold-rush town to Australia’s largest and most influential city in the new Federation.

A historian reveals the grittier side of Regency England, far from the country houses and costume balls of high society.Often upheld as a period of elegance with many achievements in the fine arts and architecture, the Regency era also encompassed a time of great social, political, and economic upheaval. In this insightful social history, the emphasis is on the lives of those not born into nobility—what it was like for the poor, and what challenges they faced....

A book that revolutionised our understanding of English social history. E. P. Thompson shows how the English working class emerged through the degradations of the industrial revolution to create a culture and political consciousness of enormous vitality.

"A lively survey…her research and insights make us conscious of how we, today, use books."—John Sutherland, The New York Times Book ReviewTwo centuries before the advent of radio, television, and motion pictures, books were a cherished form of popular entertainment and an integral component of domestic social life. In this fascinating and vivid history, Abigail Williams explores the ways in which shared reading shaped the lives and literary culture of the e...

Jerry White's London in the Eighteenth Century is an unrivalled, panoramic account of the city's dramatic century of rebirth by its leading expert.London in the eighteenth century had risen from the ashes. The city and its people had been brought to the brink by the Great Fire of 1666. But the century that followed was a period of vigorous expansion, of scientific and artistic genius, of blossoming reason, civility, elegance and manners. It was also an age...

This dramatic social history follows the struggle for women's rights in England from the Industrial Revolution to the Suffragist victory after WWI.The 100 years from 1819-1919 saw remarkable change for women in England. From the early nineteenth century, when women were not even considered 'persons' under the law, they achieved full legal rights and status. The doors of education and employment were thrown open to them, and by 1919, they won universal suffrage....

Ragged London describes life in the rookeries of London, where forty people would live together in one room. Although life was a constant struggle against famine, disease and violence, the people enjoyed a closeness that was moer than the result of overcrowding. Their lives were lived entirely within the 'mean streets' of their little corner of London. They were born and raised within the rookeries, earned their meagre living there, enjoyed life as best they could, dressed in the latest fa...

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERSurnames are much more than convenient identity tags; they are windows into our families’ pasts. Some suggest ancestral trades (Butcher, Smith, Roper) or physical appearance (Long, Brown, Thynne). Some provide clues to where we come from (McDonald, Evans, Patel). And some – Rymer, Brocklebank, Stolbof – offer a hint of something just a little more exotic or esoteric.All are grist to the mill for David McKie who, in Wh...

Bethlem Hospital is the oldest mental institution in the world, to many famously known as ' Bedlam': a chaotic madhouse that brutalised its patients. Paul Chambers explores the 800-year history of Bethlem and reveals fascinating details of its ambivalent relationship with London and its inhabitants, the life and times of the hospital's more famous patients, and the rise of a powerful reform movement to tackle the institution's notorious policies. Here the whole st...

The engrossing real life story of how Queen Victoria's favourite son, Prince Alfred, undertook the most ambitious Royal tour, only for Australia's overwhelming joy of having the first Royal on its shores jolted by his decadent behaviour, then shocked by an attempted assassination by a man trained as a priest.The British Empire's youngest and most distant outpost found itself at the epicentre of a new crime and empirical fears about the first inter-continental terrorist group, a con...

Britain in 1846 was a nation in the grip of dramatic change.As the Industrial Revolution reached its height, people were flooding from countryside to city; the railways were spreading; starvation and destitution existed alongside immense wealth and power, generating profound social tensions.And seismic change was afoot in the world of politics. Parliament's repeal of the protectionist Corn Laws eroded the powers of the landowners and ushered in an age of free trade that wou...

A comprehensive introduction to researching British criminal history with information on national and local archives that family historians can use.Did you have a criminal in the family, an ancestor who was caught on the wrong side of the law? If you have ever had any suspicions about the illicit activities of your relatives, or are fascinated by the history of crime and punishment, this is the book for you.Stephen Wade's useful introduction to this fascina...