Gambling in Britain in the Long Eighteenth Century

Description

English society in the eighteenth century was allegedly marked by a 'gambling mania', such was the prevalence and intensity of different forms of 'gaming'. Gambling in Britain in the Long Eighteenth Century subjects this notion to systematic scrutiny, exploring the growth and prevalence of different forms of gambling across Britain and throughout British society in this period, as well as attitudes towards it. Drawing on a vast range of new, empirical evidence, Bob Harris seeks to understand gambling, its growth, and significance within the context of wider trends and impulses in society. This book asks what light gambling practices and habits shed back onto society and the values, hopes, and expectations that informed the lives of those involved. This is a book, therefore, as much about the character of British society in the long eighteenth century as it is about gambling itself.

Bob Harris is Professor of British History at the University of Oxford, and Harry Pitt Fellow in History at Worcester College. He has written numerous books and articles on the history of Britain in the long eighteenth century, including Politics and the Nation: Britain in the Mid Eighteenth Century (2002) and The Scottish People and the French Revolution (2008). His book, The Scottish Town in the Age of Enlightenment, c.1740-1820 (2014), co-authored with Charles McKean, won the Saltire Society's Scottish Book of the Year in 2014.

'Were Georgian Britons genuinely mad for gambling? Bob Harris's focus on sports wagering and lotteries allows readers to navigate an otherwise impossibly large topic, and yields important insights about attitudes toward chance across socioeconomic strata, in both metropolitan and provincial settings, throughout Great Britain.' John A. Eglin, University of Montana