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University of California Press

The Peculiarities of Liberal Modernity in Imperial Britain

by Simon Gunn (Editor), James Vernon (Editor), Patrick Joyce (Foreword by)
Paperback
Price: $34.95 / £30.00
Publication Date: May 2011
Edition: 1st Edition
Title Details:
Rights: World
Pages: 286
ISBN: 9780520289536
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Series:
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About the Book

In this wide-ranging volume, leading scholars across several disciplines--history, literature, sociology, and cultural studies--investigate the nature of liberalism and modernity in imperial Britain since the eighteenth century. They show how Britain's liberal version of modernity (of capitalism, democracy, and imperialism) was the product of a peculiar set of historical circumstances that continues to haunt our neoliberal present.

About the Author

Simon Gunn is a professor of urban history at the University of Leicester. James Vernon is a professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley.

Reviews

"The uniformly accomplished essays comprising The Peculiarities of Liberal Modernity in Imperial Britain, edited by Simon Gunn and James Vernon, are held together by a strong analytical framework that squarely faces the theoretical and historical conundrums posed by the category of liberal modernity. Each of the Essays takes up this challenge--established in a superb introduction--and offer nuanced meditations on the nature of modernity in imperial Britain . . . Essays skillfully reconsider the key features of liberal modernity as a historical process"
— Victorian Studies
“A remarkable achievement. This ambitious and challenging collection of tightly interwoven essays will find an eager audience among students and faculty in British and imperial history, as well as those interested in liberalism and modernity in other parts of the world.” Jordanna Bailkin, author of The Culture of Property: The Crisis of Liberalism in Modern Britain

“This volume investigates no less than the relationship of liberalism to Britain’s rise as an empire and the first modern nation. In its global scope and with its broad historical perspective, it makes a strong case for why British history still matters. It will be central for anyone interested in understanding how modernity came about.” Frank Trentmann, author of Free Trade Nation: Consumption, Commerce, and Civil Society in Modern Britain