Napoleon and British Song, 1797-1822 [Hardcover]

This study offers a radical reassessment of a crucial period of political and cultural history. By looking at some 400 songs, many of which are made available to hear, and at their writers, singers, and audiences, it questions both our relationship with song, and ordinary Britons' relationship with Napoleon, the war, and the idea of Britain itself.

Napoleon and British Song, 17971822 is an excellent study that brings fresh insights to our understanding of both the political and cultural histories of this period. It demonstrates that a nuanced reading of the eras popular song is highly rewarding, and its critical approach should serve as a model for scholars working with any ephemera of any kind. (Erica Buurman, The BARS Review, Issue 48, Autumn, 2016)

Oskar Cox Jensen is Research Fellow in the Department of Music, King's College London, UK. He is currently co-editing a volume of essays on the world of Charles Dibdin the Elder and preparing a second monograph on London Ballad Singers.

Cox Jensen combines different modes of reading from different disciplines with boldness and great assurance and in the process offers new methodologies for historians and literary scholars alike, opening out to the larger historical questions that absorb all of us working in this period. This is new and fascinating material, and the stories are well told - lively, engaged, and free of jargon. - Mary-Ann Constantine, University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, UK

This richly detailed and entertaining work is distinguished by its acute sense of the connections between songs about Napoleon and the wider debates about the character of political controversy during his rise to and fall from power. It demonstrates that taking 'ephemera' seriously can transform our understanding of the period. - Mark Philp, University of Warwick, UK

In a series of richly textured readings, Oskar Cox Jensen shows how centlƒ)