DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

Re-reading the Constitution

New Narratives in the Political History of England's Long Nineteenth Century

James Vernon editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:13th Nov '96

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Re-reading the Constitution cover

A re-examination of the debates over the meaning of the English constitution, first published in 1996.

Developing the insights of the cultural history of politics, this 1996 book re-examines the debates over the meaning of the English constitution from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries, and establishes clearly its centrality to our understanding of English politics, history and national identity.This 1996 volume of essays is about something which (for many) does not exist and yet which remains central to our understanding of English politics, history and national identity - the constitution. As European integration and demands for constitutional reform have once again moved the constitution to the centre of contemporary politics, an impressive team of contributors re-examines aspects of the debates over the meaning of the constitution and 'public opinion' in the long nineteenth century, from a sedition trial in the 1790s to the enfranchisement of certain women in 1918. With essays engaging with the histories of law, medicine and even with history as a discipline, the book takes stock of the state of the cultural history of English politics, consolidating upon much of the most innovative work in recent years as well as suggesting ways of re-reading the traditional narratives of English political history.

"Re-reading the Constitutions is a vlauable book, one that advances our understanding of English political culture in the nineteenth century." Bruce L. Kinzer, Canadian Journal of History
"...these essays are fresh, forceful, and well-informed. They contribute to a much-needed rethinking of the nature of the English constitution and nineteenth-century English politics." Martin J. Wiener, Albion
"James Vernon's Re-reading the Constitution: New Narratives in the Political History of England's Long Nineteenth Century is a useful study that reminds us that the monarchy was a part of a wider conception of government." David Nash, Nineteenth Century Studies

ISBN: 9780521589413

Dimensions: 228mm x 154mm x 17mm

Weight: 541g

280 pages