Nineteenth-Century Britain Integration and Diversity [Paperback]

While nineteenth-century Britain was committed to achieving national integration, it also hoped to maintain regional diversity. Keith Robbins looks at various aspects of life which served to unite or divide the nation, including religion, patterns of eating and drinking, the political system, commercial development, education, language, literature, and music. He concludes that the British nation, though not uniform in character, became sufficiently consolidated throughout the nineteenth century to withstand the divisive crises of the early twentieth century, particularly World War I. A stimulating account of the making of the modern British nation, this study is of continuing relevance today.

An interesting introduction to a complex subject. --American Historical Review

Extremely interesting and pioneering....His book is broad-ranging, well-informed, and very clearly (sometimes amusingly) written. It should be read by all nineteenth and twentieth-century British historians, for it suggests a host of new problems and perspectives to consider. --Albion

[A] fascinating volume...short enough, witty enough (a Robbins Hallmark) and asks enough of the right questions to stimulate further debate --Times Higher Education Supplement

[I]mportant...Robbins has perceptive things to say, and his arguments are rooted in interesting details --Yorkshire Post

[A] valuable book which deserves to be highly read --History