The mid-Victorian generation 1846-1886

This volume covers the period from the repeal of the Corn Laws to the dramatic failure of gladstone's first Home Rule Bill in three defining themes: "Established industrialism" encapsulating the growing acceptance that factory life and manufacturing had come to stay. for the first time in history, more worked in industry than on the land; An examination of "multiple national identities" within the United Kingdom revealing the existence of a variety of overlapping traditions flourishing alongside an increasingly influential unitary state; Public culture as something generated by an intermeshed set of economic, scientific, literary and artistic developments. This original and authoritative book will define these pivotal years in British history for the next generation.