The Sense of the People: Politics, Culture and Imperialism in England, 1715-1785

Description

This exciting study demonstrates the central role of "the people," the empire, and the citizen in eighteenth-century English popular politics. Pioneering in its focus on provincial towns, its attention to the imperial contexts of urban politics and its use of a rich and diverse array of sources--from newspapers, prints and plays to pottery and tea-cloths--it shows how the wide-ranging political culture of English towns attuned ordinary men and women to the issues of state power and thus enabled them to stake their own claims in national and imperial affairs.

'This much anticipated re-examination of English urban political culture builds upon the scholarship of a generation and formulates a narrative of political change that makes imperial considerations crucial ... This book is a welcome advance in understanding, and an invitation to further work.' The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 'Students of eighteenth-century Britain have eagerly anticipated this book, and it will not disappoint them' Journal of Social History '... this book, by virtue of its broad vision and sense of change, its probings in depth, and its chronological sweep provides us with an important new perspective on eighteenth-century English politics.' Albion