British History, 1660-1832 National Identity and Local Culture [Paperback]

This is an interpretative study of the idea of Britain, examining the transformation of a sectarian concept into an imperial ideology forged during a period of sustained warfare in Europe and ever-expanding areas beyond Europe during the second half of the Eighteenth century. It seeks to examine constitutional history from a non-Anglocentric perspective and to relocate it to historiographical developments in Social History and the History of Ideas. Based on more than 25 years of research, it seeks to examine critically a concept which increasingly has come under public debate during the past decade.

Introduction: Region and Locality.- The Stuart Monarchy and the Idea of Britain.- James Loses the Kingdoms: The Revolutions of 1688 in their British Context.- The Union of England and Scotland and the Development of the Hanoverian State.- The Idea of Britain and the Creation of the First British Empire.- Peripheral Nations? Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Provincial England.- Cultural Politics: National Culture in a Metropolitan State.- The American Revolution and the Origins of the Second British Empire.- War and Nation 1793-1815: British Identity and the New Empire.- Empire and its Discontents: English Nationalism and the Imperial State.- Notes.- Bibliography.- Index.

ALEXANDER MURDOCH is Senior Lecturer in Scottish History at the University of Edinburgh, UK.The book synthesizes a huge body of specialised work in the field making it more accessible to an undergraduate readership
The book revives the perspective of region and locality in relation to the concept of Britain in history, based on sectarianism, centralisation and empire