Charting the Past The Historical Worlds of Eighteenth-Century England [Paperback]

Eighteenth-century England was a place of enlightenment and revolution: new ideas abounded in science, politics, transportation, commerce, religion, and the arts. But even as England propelled itself into the future, it was preoccupied with notions of its past. Jeremy Black considers the interaction of history with knowledge and culture in eighteenth-century England and shows how this engagement with the past influenced English historical writing. The past was used as a tool to illustrate the contemporary religious, social, and political debates that shaped the revolutionary advances of the era. Black reveals this present-centered historical writing to be so valued and influential in the eighteenth-century that its importance is greatly underappreciated in current considerations of the period. In his customarily vivid and sweeping approach, Black takes readers from print shop to church pew, courtroom to painter's studio to show how historical writing influenced the era, which in turn gave birth to the modern world.

1. This book argues that in the 18th century Britain used its present as a way of interpreting the significance of its past. One can easily trace this way of viewing history straight through to the recent Brexit vote. This book shows how and why this process began.

2. Well-known and highly regarded author Jeremy Black argues persuasively for a reconsideration of how we think of the 18th century in England. This was a key time in English (and world) history, and has clear and timely ramifications to world political dynamics today.

3. This is a broad, accessibly written work that will appeal to historians working in a number of fields as well as younger undergraduates and history buffs among the wider public.

Jeremy Black is Professor of History at the University of Exeter. He is author of many books, includingPlotting Power: Strategy in the Eighteenth Century;Clios Battles: Historiography in Practice;Wals,