The Long Eighteenth Century - 2nd Edition by Frank O'Gorman (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

This long-awaited second edition sees this classic text by a leading scholar given a new lease of life. It comes complete with a wealth of original material on a range of topics and takes into account the vital research that has been undertaken in the field in the last two decades.

The book considers the development of the internal structure of Britain and explores the growing sense of British nationhood. It looks at the role of religion in matters of state and society, in addition to society's own move towards a class-based system. Commercial and imperial expansion, Britain's role in Europe and the early stages of liberalism are also examined.

This new edition is fully updated to include:

- Revised and thorough treatments of the themes of gender and religion and of the 1832 Reform Act
- New sections on 'Commerce and Empire' and 'Britain and Europe'
- Several new maps and charts
- A revised introduction and a more extensive conclusion
- Updated note sections and bibliographies

The Long Eighteenth Century is the essential text for any student seeking to understand the nuances of this absorbing period of British history.

Review Quotes

[O'Gorman's] comprehensive survey of the field should become required reading.
English Historical Review, of the first edition

A welcome overview that should be useful to upper-division undergraduates.
Choice, of the first edition

Frank O'Gorman is the judicious maestro of eighteenth-century British history, who is equally at home with the big picture and with the telling detail. Read this updated edition of his invaluable social and political history to understand the great trends of change and the countervailing forces of inertia. Read it too for fine-grain assessments, like his careful analysis of rival English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish nationalisms within an emergent 'bullish' Britishness. And read it, above all, for O'Gorman's panoramic linkage of the global and the local: very much in the spirit of the eighteenth century.
Penelope J. Corfield, Royal Holloway, University of London

About the Author

Frank O'Gorman is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Manchester, UK.