From Belloc to Churchill: Private Scholars, Public Culture, and the Crisis of British Liberalism, 1900-1939Linking historiography and political history, Victor Feske addresses the changing role of national histories written in early twentieth-century Britain by amateur scholars Hilaire Belloc, Sidney and Beatrice Webb, J. L. and Barbara Hammond, G. M. Trevelyan, and Winston Churchill. These writers recast the nineteenth-century interpretation of British history at a time when both the nature of historical writing and the fortunes of Liberalism had begun to change. Before 1900, amateur historians writing for a wide public readership portrayed British history as a grand story of progress achieved through constitutional development. This 'Whig' interpretation had become the cornerstone of Liberal party politics. But the decline of Liberalism as a political force after the turn of the century, coupled with the rise of professional history written by academics and based on archival research, inspired change among a new generation of Liberal historians. The result was a refashioned Whig historiography, stripped of overt connections to contemporary political Liberalism, that attempted to preserve the general outlines of the traditional Whiggist narrative within the context of a broad history of consensus. This new formulation, says Feske, was more suited to the intellectual and political climate of the twentieth century. Originally published in 1996. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value. |
Contents
HILAIRE BELLOC The Path Not Taken? | 15 |
SIDNEY AND BEATRICE WEBB A New Form of Public History | 61 |
J L AND BARBARA HAMMOND A Case of Mistaken Identity | 98 |
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academic Ashley authority Beatrice Webb biography BP Box Britain British History bureaucratic Cambridge Catholic Churchill's constitutional contemporary culture democracy dons Economic History English history English Local Government Essays Fabian G. M. Trevelyan Garibaldi George Gilbert Murray Graham Wallas H. A. L. Fisher Hilaire Belloc historians historiography History of England Ibid Industrial Revolution intellectual J. L. Hammond July Lawrence LBH to JLH Liberal party Liberalism's literary London Longmans Lord Randolph Macaulay Marlborough Maurice Baring ment modern moral Murray Namier narrative nineteenth century Oxford parliamentary past political Poor Law postwar professional progress public history R. H. Tawney Radical reform scientific Servile Sidney and Beatrice social socialist society Strachey tion tory Town Labourer Trade Unionism trilogy University Press Victorian Village Labourer vols volume Whig historiography Whig history Whig interpretation Whiggish Winston Churchill World Crisis writing