VIII Nineteenth Century

Transcription

86
Original
102002
Article
Annual
Blackwell
Oxford,
0066-3832
ABHL
©00
The Historical
Bulletin
UK
publishing
of
Association
Historical
Ltd
Literature
VIII Nineteenth Century
(i) British History
Andy Croll, Chris Evans and Julie-Marie Strange
General This has been a bumper year for urban history. Without doubt, one of the most
impressive pieces of work to appear was M. Daunton (ed.), The Cambridge urban
history of Britain, Vol 3: 1840–1950 (CUP, £90). A hugely ambitious project, this book
is in part a testament to the vibrant nature of the urban history field at the end of the
twentieth century. Yet it more than just an historiographical survey. The individual
contributors also open up new seams of enquiry. There are sections on ‘Getting and
spending’, ‘Images’, Construction’, ‘Circulation’ and ‘Governance’. Quite simply, it is
a must-read for all historians of nineteenth-century urban Britain. Another important
volume is Simon Gunn’s The public culture of the Victorian middle class: ritual and
authority in the English industrial city, 1840–1914 (Manchester U.P., £47.50). It is an
impeccably researched study of the distinctive ‘high’ culture that was generated in the
industrial cities of Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester in the mid-nineteenth century.
In addition to representing a major contribution to the historiography of the middle
class, the book also has much to say about the public cultures of Victorian ‘respectability’. Governance is also the subject of R.J. Morris and R.H. Trainor (eds), Urban
governance: Britain and beyond since 1750 (Ashgate, £49.50), a fascinating collection
of essays that take as their theme the organization and legitimation of urban authority.
The concept of governance is fruitfully employed as a means of asking new questions
about the nature of power relations during a period of rapid urbanization. Such rapid
urban growth was frequently cited by contemporaries as a factor which served to
undermine the religiosity of the nation. I. Maver’s Glasgow (Edinburgh U.P., £18.95) is
a lavishly illustrated book, much of which concentrates on the nineteenth century. The
port’s economic growth, the explosion of civic pride and the continuing social problems which blighted the lives of its inhabitants are all discussed in a lively fashion.
Clearly written and easily accessible, Glasgow is an impressive example of a book that
manages to talk at once to the specialist and the interested layperson. A stunning study
which seeks to comprehend the extent and nature of Victorian religion is K.D.M.
Snell and P.S. Ell, Rival Jersualems: the geography of Victorian religion (CUP, £55).
Drawing for the most part – but not exclusively – on the religious census of 1851, the
authors provide detailed geographies of (amongst other denominations) the Church of
England, Roman Catholicism and the nonconformists. Containing excellent maps and
exhaustive analysis, this is a major contribution to the field. Another noteworthy text is
T.C. Smout’s Nature contested: environmental history in Scotland and Northern England
since 1600 (Edinburgh U.P., £14.99). This is an important book that suggests how
environmental history may become one of the most significant nodes of historiographical
growth in the years to come. The author deals with a range of issues that have a contemporary, as well as a purely historical, resonance. Insights about the ways in which
perceptions of nature could change over time, the birth of modern conservation ideas
and the various changes to the landscape are presented in the author’s characteristically
limpid prose.
Social and cultural It has been another good year for historians of popular culture,
with the sub-discipline of sports history once again showing itself to be in a healthy
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state. M. Johnes, ‘ “Poor man’s cricket”: baseball, class and community in South Wales, c.
1880–1950’ (International J. Hist. Sport, 17) considers the development of a particularly Welsh form of baseball that enjoyed much popularity in the great ports of South
Wales. The author traces the ways in which the participants generated a sense of class
and community identities. J.D. Campbell, ‘ “Training for sports is training for war”:
sport and the transformation of the British army, 1860–1914’ (ibid.) is an interesting
examination of the manner in which the army utilized sports such as soccer, cricket
and boxing in an effort to modernize, improve morale and generate an enhanced esprit
de corps. J. Lowerson, ‘Sporting metaphors and new marathons: the vitality of the
Victorian middle-class legacy’ (ibid.) illustrates how the nineteenth century cast a long
shadow in sports history. He shows how the twentieth-century pastimes of birding and
amateur astronomy have been made sense of using terms that the Victorian bourgeoisie
would have understood and approved of. Meanwhile, J. Goulstone, ‘The working-class
origins of modern football’ (ibid.) shatters the image we have of rugby and soccer in
the era before the public schools got hold of the sports. Working-class versions of
these games were more formal and less brutal than has generally been thought.
The trend towards allowing the middle class their place in the historiographical sun
continues this year. M. Huggins, ‘Second-class citizens? English middle-class culture
and sport, 1850–1910: a reconsideration’ (ibid.) argues that the lived experience of the
sporting bourgeoisie was far more complicated and variegated than historians have
assumed. The middle class could disagree amongst themselves about what constituted
respectable and rational uses of leisure time. Rather less salacious than the title
suggests, Huggins’ ‘More sinful pleasures? Leisure, respectability and the male middle
classes in Victorian England’ (J. of Soc. Hist., 33) argues that leisure activities posing
a threat to bourgeois respectability created arenas for the fluidity of class identity
rather than class conflict while his ‘The first generation of street bookmakers in
Victorian England: demonic fiends or decent fellers?’ (Northern Hist., 36) explores the
ambiguous status of bookmaking as vice and (fledgling) legitimate business venture.
The connections between popular culture, the stage and laissez-faire liberalism are
revealed in T.C. Davis’s The economics of the British stage, 1800–1914 (CUP, £50),
a well researched book, conceived within a Marxist-feminist paradigm, which covers
such topics as the theatre, the circus, ballet, opera and the music hall. J. Moody, Illegitimate theatre in London, 1770–1840 (CUP, £37.50) is a pioneering study of the
minor theatre and how performers attempted to find their way around the various laws
which prohibited the staging of tragedy and comedy at the metropolis’s illegitimate
theatres. Set within an analytical context of culture, economics and scientific paradigms,
M. Hilton’s Smoking in British popular culture, 1880–2000 (Manchester U.P., £15.99)
examines the complex factors which have made such a deadly and expensive activity
so attractive to many.
The value of the local study for challenging dominant historiography is highlighted
in C. Griffin’s ‘“There was no law to punish that offence”: re-assessing Captain Swing:
rural Luddism and rebellion in east Kent, 1830–1’ (Southern Hist., 22). Contesting the
pioneering work of Hobsbawm and Rude, Griffin grounds the outbreak of the ‘Swing’
riots within the context of local employment and social institutions to argue that the
riots were both expected and precedented. In addition, he suggests that the number and
spatial extent of the riots has been severely underestimated. Likewise, K. Walker’s
‘The first Severn tunnel’ highlights a previously unsung hero, the engineer Robert
Tipping. Outlining Tipping’s ambitious scheme to build a Severn Tunnel, well before
Brunel furrowed under the Thames, Walker also indicates the interplay of business,
bankers, farmers and, importantly, the exchange of technological ideas in changing
local landscapes (Local Historian, 30). Rapid urban and industrial growth provide the
context for G. Rimmington’s analysis of ‘Methodism and society in Leicester, 1881–
1914’ (ibid.) while M. Bee explores the organization and impact of ‘Co-operation in
Berkshire, 1860 –1913’ on small and conservative working-class communities (Southern
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Hist., 22). In ‘The southwestern deep sea fisheries and their markets in the nineteenth
century’ (ibid.), J. Rule assesses the influence of railways on the promotion and sale of
fish alongside the effect of newly accessible markets on local and national diets.
Continuing interest in local trade, I.D. Roberts’ ‘Iron-making in Redesdale and North
Tynedale in the nineteenth century: the problems of rural exploitation and diversification’ (Northern Hist., 36) and B.R. Bennison’s ‘The size and arrangement of brewing
in northeastern England, 1800–1830’ (ibid.) both explore the multiple economic and
social factors affecting local community ventures and challenge orthodox perceptions
of a rural and urban segregation of business.
Another local study that has something to say about the ‘bigger’ historiographical
picture is C.S. Hallas’s ‘Poverty and pragmatism in the Northern uplands of England:
the north Yorkshire Pennines, c. 1770–1900’ (Soc. Hist., 25). This is an interesting
attempt at countering the common trend of choosing case studies from the southern
and eastern lowlands of England. Evidence from the north shows a far greater willingness to employ informal means of relieving poverty rather than formal poor relief. G.
Howells, ‘Emigration and the New Poor Law: the Norfolk emigration fever of 1836’
(Rural Hist., 11) highlights the difficulties faced by those who advocated emigration as
an effective solution to wider social problems such as poverty. E.T. Hurren, ‘Labourers
are revolting: penalizing the poor and a political reaction in the Brixworth Union,
Northamptonshire, 1875–1885’ (ibid.) examines the crusade against outdoor relief and
concludes that, unsurprisingly, the poor lost out as a consequence. The author also
finds, however, that the rural labouring classes were politicized in ways rarely appreciated by historians. The parish serves as the focus of attention for D. Spencer in his
‘Reformulating the “closed” parish thesis: associations, interests, and interaction’ (J.
Hist. Geography, 26). Spencer revisits the argument put forward by D.R. Mills in the
late 1950s which explored the relationship between landownership and the demographic characteristics of parishes, and takes Mills to task for his postivist treatment
of agency, space and time.
In Child sexual abuse in Victorian England (Routledge, £17.99), L.A. Jackson,
draws upon a wide range of qualitative sources to examine the ways in which child
abuse was located, debated, diagnosed and dealt with. An invaluable contribution to
the historiography of childhood, the book is not too surprising in its conclusions: concern about child sexual abuse focused primarily on female children and few reported
cases of abuse resulted in criminal conviction. The inextricability of sexual conduct
from social status is the subject of S. Waddams’ Sexual slander in nineteenth-century
England: defamation in the ecclesiastical courts, 1815–1855 (Toronto U.P., £48.00).
Examining 3,020 cases of sexual insult, Waddams is able to make generalizations concerning the sex and class of plaintiffs and defendants, the workings of legal institutions
and the expense (financial and social) of taking cases to court although, as a legal
historian, he avoids any in-depth cultural analysis of sexual insult. N. Daly, ‘Blood on
the tracks: sensation drama, the railway, and the dark face of modernity’ (Victorian
Studs., 42) ponders how the railway rescue scenario – in which a victim was tied to the
railway line and was snatched to safety at the last minute by a hero or heroine – came
to exercise such a poweful hold over Victorian imaginations. A. Vrettos, ‘Definining
habits: Dickens and the pyschology of repetition’ (ibid.) explores nineteenth-century
notions of individual agency through a study of ‘competing narratives of mental
flexibility and rigidity’. R. Kinna goes in search of the intellectual origins of William
Morris’ demand that the work process be made more attractive in her ‘William Morris:
art, work, and literature’ ((J. Hist. Ideas, 61). Kate Campbell (ed.), Journalism, literature and modernity (Edinburgh U.P., £45) is a collection of essays which, taken
together, is an argument for taking journalism far more seriously than many historians
do. The influence of postmodern sensibilities is evident in a number of the articles,
with interesting assessments of the journalistic output of Mayhew, Arnold and Hazlitt
(amongst others).
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N. Brown, ‘ “A case of such familiars at home”: natural and supernatural in the work
of John Anster Fitzgerald’ (J. Victorian Culture, 5) takes a look at the work of man
who was obsessed with fairies. Paintings such as the ‘Cock Robin’ series are placed
under the spotlight in an effort to better understand the ways Victorians conceived of
the relationship between the human, natural and supernatural worlds. Art and agency
are brought together in D.W. Thomas’s ‘Replicas and originality: picturing agency in
Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Victorian Manchester’ (ibid.). Art exhibitions could at once
strengthen a belief in agency as observers pondered the originality of the artist; at the
same time art could point to the limits of human agency. From high art to popular
music: J. Francmanis, ‘The “folk-song” competition: an aspect of the search for an
English National Music’ (Rural Hist., 11) concentrates on the efforts of Frank Kedson
to further the work of the Folk Song Society in first defining, and then preserving,
examples of English folk songs. Meanwhile, ghost-hunting Tomoko Masuzawa finds
the spectre of fetishism, supposedly consigned to heathenism or superstition, ‘everywhere’ in Victorian literature in ‘troubles with materiality: the ghost of fetishism in the
nineteenth century’ (Comparative Studs. in Soc. and Hist., 42). And K. Newey, ‘Climbing boys and factory girls: popular melodramas of working life’ (J. Victorian Culture,
5) studies popular fiction and notes how melodrama emerged as a ‘significant element
in the ideological debates over culture’ and became a crucial means of making sense
of the ‘condition of England’ question.
Bird-lovers will be interested in R.J. Moore-Colyer’s ‘Feathered women and persecuted birds: the struggle against the plumage trade, c. 1860–1922’ (Rural Hist., 11).
London was the hub of the international trade in bird feathers and skins, prompting the
Society for the Protection of Birds to wage a determined campaign to stamp out the
practice. In the end, however, the author notes that a wider shift in fashion played a
major role in weakening demand for exotic bird feathers. Another unfortunate bird
features in J. Fisher’s ‘Property rights in pheasants: landlords, farmers and the Game
Laws, 1860–80’ (Rural Hist., 11). The author explores the reasons behind tenant farmers
growing resentment with landowners and suggests that measures such as the Night
Poaching Act of 1862 came to symbolize an ‘unacceptable degree of teneurial subordination’. The scourge of poachers everywhere, the new policeman, is at the heart of
C. Emsley’s ‘The policeman as worker: a comparative survey, c. 1800–1940’ (Int. R.
Soc. Hist., 45). This is an impressive historiographical survey which will interest not
only historians of the police, of crime and of labour history, but also anyone seeking
clarification about the virtues of taking a comparative historical approach.
Historians of the so-called Celtic fringe have again shown how their subject areas
are far from being located on the historiographical margins. D. Allen, ‘ “Is there a
future for the past?” Trade unions, women, labour and labour history in the New
Millennium’ (Scottish Labour Hist., 35) reports on a conference at which the future of
Scottish labour history was pondered. A number of contributors to the debate thought
that there were reasons to be cautiously optimistic. A. Croll surveys the state of the
labour history of Wales in his ‘ “People’s remembrancers” in a postmodern age: contemplating the non-crisis of Welsh labour history’ (Llafur, 8) and argues that Welsh historians should at least consider what might be positive about the postmodern turn. P.
O’Leary, Immigration and integration: the Irish in Wales, 1798–1922 (Wales U.P., pbk
£14.99) is a sparkling analysis, which at times deploys the discourse of Otherness to
understand the experience of generations of Irish immigrants to Wales. Along the way,
the author reveals the extent of the prejudice facing those unfortunates who were
forced to leave their homes in the wake of the Famine. By the end of the period,
however, many had made the journey from social outcasts to successful citizens.
Postmodern insights are also applied in L. Proudfoot, ‘Hybrid space? Self and Other in
narratives of landownership in nineteenth-century Ireland’ (J. Hist. Geography, 26) is
a case study of a landlord’s ‘own private narrative of place, and the ways in which this
was negotiated with his tenantry’. Proudfoot argues that a hybrid space was created
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that did not conform to conventional colonial readings of élite landscape. J. Belchem’s
Merseypride: essays in Liverpool exceptionalism (Liverpool U.P., pbk £11.95) has
much to say about immigrants from the Celtic fringe, most especially the Irish. In the
process, he continues his critical engagement with the postmodernists.
More generally there have been some interesting contributions in the fields of Irish,
Scottish and Welsh history. E. Malcolm, ‘ “The reign of terror in Carlow”: the politics
of policing Ireland in the late 1830s’ (Irish Hist. Studs., 32) uncovers the sectarian
tensions that were more of a feature of policing in Ireland during these years than
historians have generally allowed. P. Gray, ‘National humiliation and the Great Hunger:
fast and famine in 1847’ (ibid.) explores the meanings that accrued to a national day of
fast and famine observed throughout Britain as a means of understanding the natural
disaster that was the potato famine which afflicted Ireland and the Scottish Highlands.
A. Bielenberg, ‘Entreprenuership, power and public opinion in Ireland: the career of
William Martin Murphy’ (Irish Econ. and Soc. Hist, 27) considers the public reception
of Murphy, a critic of those advocating a free Ireland, and the opportunities open to
Irish entrepreneurs during the late Victorian and Edwardian eras. R. Mitchison, The
old poor law in Scotland: the experience of poverty, 1574–1845 (Edinburgh U.P.,
£19.95) is a thoroughly researched and lucidly written account of the old poor law as
it operated north of the border. Based on over twenty years research it is likely to remain
the key work on the topic for years to come. M. Moss, J.F. Munro and R.H. Trainor,
University, city and state: the university of Glasgow since 1870 (Edinburgh U.P., £35)
is an impressive institutional history which emphasizes the extent to which the city of
Glasgow itself exercised an influence on the development of the university. C.W.J.
Withers, ‘Authorizing landscape: “authority”, naming and Ordnance Survey’s mapping
of the Scottish Highlands in the nineteenth century’ (J. Hist. Geography, 26) is an
examination of naming as a social process. In this case, an English-speaking body
tried to provide authoritative names to a Gaelic landscape. Local native knowledge
proved crucial in the process. J.I. Little, ‘From the Isle of Arran to Inverness township: a case study of Highland emigration and north American settlement, 1829–34’
(Scottish Econ. and Soc. Hist, 20) ponders the multiplex consequences of migration
from Arran to Canada during the Clearances through a detailed case study. M.
Freeman, ‘Employment in the Islay distilliaries, 1841–1914’ (Scottish Labour Hist., 35)
takes a look at an industry long woven into to popular understandings of Scottishness.
In contrast, R. Rees, King Copper: South Wales and the copper trade 1584–1895
(Wales U.P., £14.99) explores an industry in Wales that is usually overshadowed by
those of iron, steel and coal.
Political Much work on political history focuses on personalities and ideologies. Set
within the context of the local political and economic climate, J. Markham examines
new forms of political relationships in ‘James Clay; MP for Hull: a pioneering constituency member’ (Northern Hist., 36) while P. Catterall ruminates on the origins, creation and subsequent reluctance to change ‘The British electoral system, 1885–1970’
(Hist. Research, 73). Concentrating on the relationship between New Radicals and
local traditionalists, D.K. Leighton revises the continuities and contradictions of midVictorian politics, especially ‘municipal socialism’, in ‘Municipal progress, democracy
and radical identity in Birmingham, 1838–1886’ (Midland Hist., 25). Grounding his
analysis in a critical survey of orthodox historiography, J.P. Parry’s ‘Disraeli and
England’ engages with debates concerning Disraeli’s ideas of England as tied to his
status as Tory democrat, opportunist and/or continentalist. Disparaging charges of
naiveté, Parry paints Disraeli as a reactive and restorative pragmatist; conservative
but not reactionary; and, purveyor of a heroic and individualist approach to ideological
notions of ‘Englishness’ (Hist. J., 43). D. Miller’s ‘John Stuart Mill’s civic liberalism’,
attempts to redress the tendency to ignore the civic liberalism inherent in his subject’s
philosophy and answers critics who suggest that the civic and liberal components of
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Mill were inconsistent (Hist. Political Thought, 21). Meanwhile, G.K. Peatling’s ‘New
Liberalism, J.L. Hammond and the Irish Problem, 1897–1949’ reads the historical
scholarship of Hammond as a window into challenging orthodox views on the domestic
focus of ‘new liberalism’. Indeed, he suggests that New Liberals contributed prolonged
and intense support for the self-government of Ireland (Hist. Research, 73). Locating
political philosophy within its specific historical context takes primacy in G.C.
Corninel’s ‘Marx’s context’. Bound to pre-capitalist frames of reference, the early works
of Marx achieved their ‘astounding acuity’ as a result of Marx’s fresh perspective on
an unfamiliar capitalist context (Hist. Political Thought, 21). P. Lindsay brings Marx
and Mill together in his essay ‘Overcoming false dichotomies: Mill, Marx and the
welfare state’ (ibid.) while ‘The first Darwinian left: radical and socialist responses to
Darwin, 1859–1914’, by D.A. Stack, examines eight radical and socialist writers in a
bid to tease out the paradoxical challenges to socialism posed by Darwinism (ibid.).
G. Johnson had a busy year arguing that the Social Democratic Federation (SDF) has
been grossly underestimated. In ‘British social democracy and religion, 1881–1911’
(J. Ecclesiastical Hist., 51) he defends staunch SDF atheists against oversimplified
charges that they mellowed with age to adopt a vague religiosity. Elsewhere, ‘Social
Democracy and labour politics in Britain, 1892–1911’ (Hist., 85) suggests that perceptions of an abandonment of a labour alliance in 1901 are based on misunderstandings
of the dynamics and tactics of the SDF, while ‘Making reform the instrument of
revolution: British social democracy, 1881–1911’ (Hist. J., 43) urges a re-examination
of those tactics. Highlighting the ‘linguistic turn’ and the recovery of a republican
tradition (centred on concepts of virtue and liberty), M. Bevir’s ‘Republicanism,
socialism, and democracy in Britain: the origins of the radical left’ surveys the impact
of recent historiography on perceptions of the longevity of radical tradition in socialist
ideology (J. Soc. Hist., 34).
S. Samuel, ‘British radicals and “legitimacy”: Napolean in the mirror of history’ (P.
and Pr., 166) argues that historians have underestimated the role that Napolean played
in radical argument after Waterloo. M. Taylor, ‘The 1848 revolution and the British
Empire’ (ibid.) argues that far from emerging unscathed from the upheavels of 1848,
the tumultuous events fuelled discontent in the colonies. Most notably, the colonies
remained a significant burden in terms of military costs. I. Matthews and M. Cragoe –
in ‘Comments and response on Matthew Cragoe’s “Conscience or coercion? Clerical
influence at the general election of 1868 in Wales” ’ (ibid.) – debate the merits of Cragoe’s earlier article on 1868. Matthews argues that Cragoe should have made more of
Welsh-language sources and analysed Nonconformist culture in a more sophisticated
fashion. Cragoe doubts whether Welsh language papers differed markedly from their
English-language counterparts. The History of Parliament project continues to bear
fruit. T.A. Jenkins, ‘The whips in the early Victorian House of Commons’ (Parl. Hist.,
19) is a detailed study of three whips in action during a formative period in the office’s
development. P. Salmon, in his ‘Local politics and partisanship: the electoral impact of
municipal reform, 1835’ (ibid.), asks why did party triumph over provincialism and
finds that the contested nature of registration politics was of central importance. Meanwhile, L.M. Powell, ‘Sir Michael Hicks Beach and Conservative politics 1880–1888’
(ibid.) examines a key phase in the political career of a politician who was, above all
else, an arch pragmatist. R. Brown, Revolution, radicalism and reform (CUP, pbk
£10.95) is another addition to the ‘Cambridge Perspectives in History’ and is a good
general introduction to the political, economic and social developments of the period
stretching from the late eighteenth century to the first part of the nineteenth century.
Useful for sixth-formers and undergradutates alike, it contains a document study
section on the ‘Condition of England’ question. Another Cambridge series, ‘New Studies
in Economic and Social History’, is augmented by John E. Archer’s Social unrest and
popular protest in England, 1780–1840 (CUP, £8.95). Also aimed primarily at sixthformers and undergraduates, Archer provides an excellent introduction to a number of
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forms of unrest including the Gordon Riots of 1780, Luddism, the radical political
reform movement and Peterloo in 1819. Finally, volume 10 of the Transactions of
the Royal Historical Society contains a special section devoted to the British-Irish
Union of 1801 with important contributions by such scholars as William Doyle,
J.G.A. Pocock and Peter Jupp.
Economic Two important books have appeared under the imprint of Cambridge University Press. E.J.T Collins (ed.), The agrarian history of England and Wales Vol. 7,
1850–1914 (CUP, £195) is a massive two volume history that manages at once to
focus on highly detailed aspects of country life in England and Wales whilst at the
same time paying due attention to the profound economic changes that were sweeping
through the rural areas. It is a truly impressive piece of work. R. Woods’ The demography of Victorian England and Wales (CUP, £45) not only provides a new statistical
and cartographic exploration of the 614 registration districts in England and Wales (a
useful companion to his and Shelton’s earlier atlas of Victorian demography), it also
offers a probing critique of the reasons for variable mortality rates in those districts.
The trajectory of British industrialization continues to generate debate. C. Knick
Harley and Nick Crafts defend their view of a sectorally restricted Industrial Revolution against the criticisms of Peter Temin in ‘Simulating the two views of the Industrial
Revolution’ (J. Econ. Hist., 60). Temin replies in the same issue. The Rubinstein
controversy continues (still!) in the pages of Business Hist. (42), with an exchange
between Rubinstein, ‘Wealth making in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries: a response’, and T. Nicholas, ‘The Rubinstein hypothesis revisited’, on the
methodologies of measuring wealth. In ‘Businessmen and landownership in the late
nineteenth century revisited’ (Econ. H.R., 53), Nicholas also disputes the extent of
land acquisition by late nineteenth-century businessmen with J.A. Smith, whose Land
ownership and social change in late nineteenth-century Britain appears in Econ. H.R.,
53. In “Ossified or dynamic? Structure, markets and the competitive process in the
Brtitish business system of the nineteenth century” ’ (Business Hist., 42), R. Church
defends the competitive record of nineteenth-century British business, claiming that
firms paid due attention to the marketing of their products. The success of one littlestudied business sector is described by R.G. David in ‘The ice trade and the northern
economy, 1840–1914’ (Northern Hist., 36). A. Gambles deals with a complementary
industry, that of fishing, exploring the extent of state support for British fisheries in
‘Free trade and state formation: the political economy of fisheries policy in Britain and
the United Kingdom circa 1780–1850’ (J. British Studs., 39).
A number of works address workforce structure and the nature of labour markets. E.
Gordon and G. Nair examine ‘The economic role of middle-class women in Victorian
Glasgow’ (Women’s Hist. Rev., 9), concluding that such women were able to achieve
considerable economic autonomy despite the gendered restrictions under which they
had to work. Turning to a work based almost exclusively on historiographical critique,
K. Honeyman, Women, gender and industrialization in England, 1700–1870 (Macmillan,
£15.50), examines competing perspectives on how industrialization created and
contributed to gendered (and, of course, class) identities. The issue of self-help among
working-class households is the subject of ‘Work and prudence: household responses
to income variation in nineteenth-century Britain’ (Eur. Rev. of Economic Hist., 4) by
S. Horrell and D. Oxley. The authors demonstrate that participation in self-help organizations, far from the preserve of families headed by male breadwinners, was more
prevalent in families with multiple earners. A.J. Gritt explores the problems of measuring the distribution and decline of farm service in early nineteeenth-century England
in ‘The census and the servant: a reassessment of the decline and distribution of farm
service in early nineteenth-century England’ (Econ. H.R., 53). The labour market
practices of nineteenth-century railway companies are examined by F.W.G. Andrews in
‘Employment on the railways in east Kent, 1841–1914’ (Transport Hist, 21), and by
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P. Howlett in ‘Evidence of the existence of an internal labour market in the Great
Eastern Railway Company, 1875–1905’ (Business Hist., 42).
Urban history As already demonstrated in Daunton’s magnificent edited collection
for the Cambridge Urban History of Britain series, urban historians continue to produce
interesting work. At a time when private-public initiatives are much in the news, it is
fitting that one theme that is attracting much attention is the extent to which private
interest clearly influenced much of the industrial and urban growth in Victorian
Britain. How far this could clash with public interest is the focus of C. Smith’s ‘Urban
improvement in the Nottinghamshire market town, 1770 –1840’ (Midland Hist., 25).
Acknowledging a growth in concern for urban improvement in early industrial Nottingham, Smith concludes that the elites sponsoring development schemes prioritized
the aesthetic of environment over concerns with public health, thus extending the gap
between the elite and the labouring population. Public and private also clash in J.M.
Picker’s ‘The soundproof study: Victorian professionals, work, space and urban noise’
(Victorian Studs., 42). Picker’s analysis of the campaigns against invasive street noise
by home professionals (male writers and artists) highlights several features of Victorian
urban life: the class issues inherent in the use of space; perceived boundaries between
public and private, work and leisure; and attempts to imbue fledgling occupational
status with common meaning. For those interested in pursuing this relationship
between public and private interests beyond the confines of the urban, J. Taylor’s ‘Private
property, public interest and the role of the state in nineteenth-century Britain: the case
of lighthouses’ (Hist. J., 44) allows a trip to the seaside. Taylor’s exposition of the
shameless profiteering of lighthouse owners casts a shadow over their beacon. His
reading of campaigns for the government to move lighthouse management to state
hands concludes that the issue represented a crucial landmark in perceptions of the
state as public guardian.
Returning to the less bracing atmosphere of the town and city, I.S. Black, ‘Spaces
of capital: bank office building in the City of London, 1830–1870’ (J. Hist. Geography,
26) is a study of the development of specialized commercial office space. The ideological dimension of the built environment was brought to the fore by architects intent
upon representing the new corporate values of the modern money economy in the
urban landscape. Staying in the metropolis, S. Oliver’s excellent ‘The Thames
Embankment and the disciplining of nature in modernity’ (Geographical J., 166), is an
examination of the fusion of science with narratives of the ‘natural’. Oliver has written
an intelligent and probing account of how nature is used as a figurative and a literal
frame for culture. Meanwhile, modern ways of writing about the urban are analysed in
R. Allen, ‘Munby reappraised: the diary of an English flaneur’ (J. Victorian Culture,
5). Allen taps into a growing recognition of the significance of the flaneur (as identified
in such works as Judith Walkowitz’s City of dreadful delight), and sees Munby’s diary
as a ‘self conscious contribution to traditions of urban writing in the first person’. In a
similar vein, L. Hapgood, ‘The literature of the suburbs: versions of repression in the
novels of George Gissing, Arthur Conan Doyle and William Pitt Ridge, 1890 –1899’
(J. Victorian Culture, 5) is an interesting comparison of the three writers who appealed
to that ever more significant reader – the suburbanite. The story of the various attempts
to turn Merthyr Tydfil, the paradigmatic industrial frontier town, into a civic settlement
are considered in A. Croll’s, Civilizing the urban: popular culture and public space in
Merthyr, c. 1870–1914 (Wales U.P., £25). The study draws upon Foucauldian ideas in
a critical fashion in order to generate new understandings of the the relationship
between class, popular culture and public space. Élite and non-élite alike are seen as
playing crucial roles in the creation of urban meaning. The history of the former are
the subject of J. Smith’s, ‘Urban élites c. 1830–1930 and urban history’ (Urban Hist.,
27) which reveals some of the dominant assumptions that have underpinned the
historiography of the middle class in nineteenth-century Britain. The significance of
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recent work – including Martin Hewitt’s work on Manchester – is discussed and new
directions of study are identified. Hewitt elaborates further on some of the ideas contained in his book, The emergence of stability, in an article concentrating upon the free
library in Manchester. His ‘Confronting the modern city: the Manchester Free Public
Library, 1850–80’ (Urban Hist., 27) puts the argument that whilst not ‘an especially
successful disciplinary institution’, the nineteenth-century public library ‘may yet have
been a significant mechanism of cultural disempowerment’.
Medicine/Science The urban has for long served as the major focus of study for historians of nineteenth-century medicine, unsurprisingly given that public health and
high mortality rates are usually associated with the growth of urban centres. E.P. Hennock, ‘The urban sanitary movement in England and Germany, 1838–1914: a comparison’ (Continuity and Change, 15) argues that the main difference between the sanitary
movements in the two countries was timing: Germans had to wait twenty-five years before
they could enjoy the benefits of modern sanitation. Hennock proceeds by considering
the demographic effects of this delay. Body and city: histories of urban public health
(Ashgate, £49.50), edited by S. Sheard and H. Power, further illustrates the continued
interest in the effects of urbanization. Featuring English, European and American
essays, the collection offers some comparative insights into the personalities and problems within attempts to improve and reform British public health. Sheard’s own interests are further explored in ‘Profit is a dirty word: the development of public baths and
washhouses in Britain, 1847–1915’ (Soc. Hist. of Medicine, 13). Concentrating on
Liverpool, Glasgow and Belfast, Sheard demonstrates the influence of perceptions of
disease and the body on ideas of cleanliness and the ways in which public health reform
was inextricable from concern about municipal finance and profit. N. Durbach explores
the explicit politics of public health in ‘They might as well brand us: working-class
resistance to compulsory vaccination in Victorian England’ (ibid.). Taking the legislation instigating compulsory vaccination of working-class infants as her focal point,
Durbach considers the body as a site for political protest in relation to perceptions of
medicine as a form of political tyranny. Staying with the working classes, S. Cherry’s
‘Hospital Saturday, workplace collections and issues in late nineteenth-century hospital
funding’ (Medical Hist., 44) argues that working-class contributions to hospital coffers
were motivated not by deference but, rather, the appeal of conscious self-help and the
assertion of rights and demands for concessions or reform.
I. Crozier, ‘William Acton and the history of sexuality: the medical professional
context’ (J. Victorian Culture, 5) argues that historians have for long misinterpreted the
views of Acton, a venerologist usually cited to confirm the assumption that Victorians
didn’t enjoy sex. For too long, Acton has been seen either as a charlatan or as a representative of an entrenched orthodoxy. However, if we locate him within a medical context he emerges as a professional trying to make a name for himself. The inscription
of the body and illness with cultural meaning is inherent in A. Nicholl’s ‘Fenland ague
in the nineteenth century’ (Medical Hist., 44). Exploring the localized construct of a
common disease, Nichol illustrates not only the morbidity and mortality, but, also, the
significance of ague for lay notions of health and the personification of illness. The
importance of writing histories of people in addition to those of eminent practitioners
is particularly evident in M. Jackson’s Borderland of imbecility: medicine, society and
the fabrication of the feeble mind in late Victorian and Edwardian England (Manchester
U.P., £45). In this refreshing addition to the historiography of lunacy, Jackson
examines individual stories of madness in relation to those of institutions and alienists
to question assumptions and explore reconceptualizations of the ‘imbecile’. I. Loudon,
meanwhile, confirms his position as one of the most authoritative writers on maternal
and infant mortality with the publication of The tragedy of childbed fever (OUP, £40).
Taking a chronological approach, Loudon outlines the character of the disease (not for
the faint hearted), medical theories relating to its transmission and treatment, and the
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impact of childbed/puerperal fever on families, leaving no doubt that this was, indeed,
a tragic illness. Female pathology is also the focus of J.-M. Strange’s ‘Menstrual fictions:
medical languages of menstruation, 1850 –1950’. Drawing on a range of medical
literature and lunatic asylum records, Strange argues that medical narratives of menstruation were inextricable from cultural conceptions of femininity (Women’s Hist. R.,
9). Shifting focus towards medical and scientific analysis, M. Worboys’ Spreading
germs: disease theories and medical practice in Britain, 1865–1900 (CUP, £37.50)
presents a thorough and innovative reading of competing scientific paradigms related
to the rise and consolidation of germ theory. Also concerned with science, J. Mertens’
‘From tubal Cain to Faraday: William Whewell as a philosopher of technology’
illustrates that his subject’s configuration of the technical was more sophisticated than
previously allowed (Hist. of Science, xxxvii) while E. Musselman’s ‘Local colour:
John Dalton and the politics of colour blindness’ (ibid.) posits new methodological
frameworks for thinking about colour blindness and locates the shifting place of local
knowledge in natural philosophy. Given contemporary debate concerning the separation
of science and the arts, G. Levine’s ‘Two ways not to be a solipsist: art and science,
Pater and Pearson’ represents a timely exploration of the shifting but inextricable
relationship between culture and science in the late nineteenth century (Victorian
Studs., 42). G. Claeys, in his ‘The “survival of the fittest” and the origins of Social
Darwinism’ (J. Hist. Ideas, 61), concludes that Darwin’s discoveries occasioned no
revolution in social theory but instead represented a reconfiguration of existing ideas
that had been formulated by Malthus and others.
Gender/women Much has been written about the prostitute and dangerous sexualities
in Victorian Britain. P. Howell, ‘A private Contagious Diseases Act: prostitution and
public space in Victorian Cambridge’ (J. Hist. Geography, 26) considers the fascinating
case of Cambridge University which had its own private powers to deal with the
problem of prostitution. Importantly, Howell questions how much the regulation of
prostitution was a feature of modernity. In the process, he notes how this private
institution responded in ways that closely paralleled the state’s Contagious Diseases
Acts of the 1860s. Meanwhile, P. Bartley turns the critical gaze to those (mainly
women) who involved themselves in the ‘rescue’ and reform of prostitutes. Drawing
on a broad range of sources, Prostitution, prevention and reform in England 1860–
1914 (Routledge, £15.99) is a coherent and focused analysis of the motives, methods
and success rates of those seeking to save women from sin and expands upon Bartley’s
discussion of the dynamics between urban improvement, Christian Evangelicism and
social order in ‘Moral regeneration: women and the civic gospel in Birmingham,
1870–1914’ (Midland Hist., 25). Sexuality collides with consumerism in L. Sigel’s
‘Filth in the wrong people’s hands: postcards and the expansion of pornography in
Britain and the Atlantic World, 1880–1914’ (J. Soc. Hist., 33). Exploring representations of gender, foreignness and class, Sigel argues that the cheap postcard democratized pornography and threatened to subvert ideas concerning the social order. L. Hall
continues to contribute to the burgeoning history of sexuality with Sex, gender and
social change in Britain since 1880 (Macmillan, £14.50). Taking a chronological
approach, Hall weaves her narrative around cultural attitudes towards sex and gender,
medical paradigms and legal-political debates. The result is a valuable read for those
interested in the changing status of women, the major sexuality debates in late Victorian and Edwardian Britain, and their legacy for the twentieth century. The value of
new archives for re-evaluating the perspectives of theorists and practitioners is evident
in H. Oosterhuis’s Stepchildren of nature: Krafft-Ebing, psychiatry and the making of
sexual identity (University of Chicago, £19).
A. Andersons’ ‘The temptations of aggrandized agency: feminist histories and the
horizon of modernity’ represents a sophisticated analysis of the tension between laying
claims to forms of feminine ‘power’ and the primacy of gender in modern ideologies
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(Victorian Studs., 42). In ‘Women and patronage in the late Victorian army’, I. Beckett
challenges the tenacious idea of separate spheres by emphasizing the significant
influence wives exerted over husband’s army careers (Hist., 85). More familiar for
his promotion of self-help, Samuel Smiles emerges as a champion of women’s rights
in A. Tyrell’s ‘Samuel Smiles and the woman question in early Victorian Britain’
permitting a re-assessment of gender relations, radicalism and Smiles’ own career
(J. Brit. Studs, 39, 2). Staying with self-help, B. Blaszak The matriarchs of England’s
co-operative movement: a study in gender politics and female leadership, 1883–1921
(Greenwood, £50.95) looks at the resources, the leadership and the conflicts between
women and men involved with the movement. Seeing patriarchy as the overwhelming
framework in which the movement operated, Blaszak is, perhaps, a little reluctant to
acknowledge the achievements and relative value of the Women’s Co-Operative Guild
not only to those who founded and managed it, but, also, to the many working-class
women who benefited from involvement with it.
Studies of representations are, once again, noteworthy. J. Rowbotham, ‘ “Soldiers of
Christ”? Images of female missionaries in late nineteenth-century Britain: issues of
heroism and martyrdom’ (Gender and Hist., 12) is an exploration of the stereotypes
that clustered around the ‘heroic woman’. Such representations affected the way in
which female missionaries – who often found themselves in danger – were thought
of as role models. A. Blunt, ‘Embodying war: British women and domestic defilement in the Indian “Mutiny”, 1857– 8’ (J. Hist. Geography, 26) looks at the ways in
which women victims and survivors of the Mutiny were represented in newspaper
accounts, parliamentary debates and visual images. She finds that ‘discourses of
defilement’ were place specific. A. Heilmann, ‘(Un)making desire: cross-dressing
and the crisis of gender in New Woman fiction’ (J. Victorian Culture, 5) considers
the ways in which the theme of cross dressing surfaced in late Victorian literature
allowing writers ‘to challenge patriarchal essentialism by exploding the category
of gender’.
Education The ideological function of education is a common theme this year. M.
Evans assesses the influence of children’s books in contributing to (and reflecting)
contemporary images of childhood in ‘Lessons in image making: schooling through
children’s books’ (Hist. of Education Bull., 65). H.G. Williams, meanwhile, focuses
on the career of the Rev. Harry Longeville Jones to explore the role of the state inspector
in maintaining the cultural identity (and diversity) of children in Welsh schools in
‘Nation-state versus national identity: state and inspectorate in mid-Victorian Wales’
(Hist. of Education Q., 40). An early champion of cultural diversity, Jones resisted the
state’s attempts to impose ‘English domestic imperialism’ on Welsh children. In a
similar vein, W.E. Marsden examines the cultural, political and ideological influence
of authorized school textbooks in ‘Poisoned history: a comparative study of nationalism,
propaganda and the treatment of war and peace in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century school curriculum’ (Hist. of Education, 29). Rather differently, L. Goldman’s ‘Intellectuals and the English working-class, 1870–1945: the case of adult
education’ (ibid.) recovers the aspirations of those figures who tried to recreate the
political and intellectual milieu that gave rise to the adult education movement.
S.J. Smith, ‘Retaking the register: women’s higher education in Glasgow and
beyond, c. 1796–1845’ (Gender and Hist., 12) re-evaluates the long held assumption
that women were effectively excluded from higher education in the period before the
1870s. The Scottish evidence suggests the need for a re-periodization. G.W. Roderick
and D.A. Allsobrook, ‘Welsh society and university funding, 1860–1914’ (Welsh Hist.
Rev., 20) finds that the legend of the University of Wales being ‘the people’s university’ has much substance in truth as there is less evidence of financial support from
the wealthy classes in Wales for higher education institutions than was the case in
England.
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Imperialism and national identities The significance of a small coterie of poets,
writers and cultural leaders for the creation of a specific Manx cultural identity which
safeguarded political devolution is the subject of J. Belchem’s ‘The little Manx nation:
antiquarianism, ethnic identity, and home rule politics in the Isle of Man, 1880–1918’
(J. British Studs., 39). Taking issue with Edward Said, D. Kennedy’s ‘Captain Burton’s
Oriental muck heap’: the book of the 1000 nights and the uses of Orientalism’
illustrates how orientalism was a source of inspiration for Europeans who sought to
challenge or enrich their own society (ibid.). In ‘Imperial dreams and national realities:
Britain, Canada and the struggle for a Pacific telegraph cable, 1879–1902’, R. Boyce,
highlights the fraught character of inter-imperial relations and the gap between imperial
ideals and national realities (English Hist. R., 115) while R. Forman’s ‘When Britons
brave Brazil: British imperialism and the adventure tale in Latin America, 1850–1918’
examines the diverse ways in which colonisers attempted to influence Brazilian culture
(Victorian Studs., 42). S. Lahim switches focus to examine the experience of a
transient Indian population in Britain in Indians in Britain: Anglo-Indian encounters,
race and identity, 1880–1930 (Frank Cass, £42.50). Taking Indian (male) students as
his case study, Lahim emphasizes that British attitudes towards the men were characterized by bewilderment at the status of colonial subjects who appropriated the habits
of English gentlemen and beliefs that the students founded Indian Nationalism. Overwhelmingly, however, perceptions of the students were informed by a fear of the Other
as sexual predator, leading to strict policing of gender relations between the students
and British born women. Cultures of empire: a reader, colonizers in Britain and the
empire in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (Manchester U.P., pbk £16.99), edited
by C. Hall, represents a collection of essays dedicated to establishing new narrative
frames for the study of Empire. Divided into three sections, the book engages with
theoretical constructs of Empire at home and abroad while pushing the chronological
boundaries of ‘Empire’ to eighteenth century Britain and postcolonial Caribbean.
A.M. Windholz, ‘An emigrant and a gentleman: imperial masculinity, British magazines,
and the colony that got away’ (Victorian Studs., 42) considers the gendered nature of
the the angst that the loss of America could still cause a hundred years after the event.
Meanwhile, R.G. Forman’s ‘When Britons brave Brazil: British imperialism and the
adventure tale in Latin America, 1850–1918’ (ibid.) uses popular fiction to illustrate
Britain’s political and economic connections with Brazil.
Demonstrating the appropriation of landscapes for political and cultural purposes,
R.G. David’s The Arctic in the British Imagination, 1818–1914 (Manchester U.P.,
£47.50) explores the rich variety of representations of the Arctic in British society.
Illustrating his thesis with an in-depth and enlightening analysis of travelogues,
artworks, cartoons, school textbooks, board games and more, David charts the changing conceptions of the Arctic’s significance to Britain and Britishness. The cultural
construction of identity through national history is R. Mitchell’s concern in Picturing
the past: English history in text and image, 1830 –1870 (OUP, £53). Exploring the
language, images and symbols integral to mid-Victorian representations of England
and Englishness, this lucid and original account deconstructs the motives for, and the
meaning and influence of, picturesque (think ‘Merry England’) history. Rather differently, Defining the Victorian nation: class, race, gender and the reform act of 1867
(CUP, pbk £16.95), edited by C. Hall, K. McClelland and J. Rendall, posits constitutional definitions of nationhood firmly within the context of social and cultural politics. The contribution of a chapter by each individual author enables the reader to
discern trademark perspectives. Far from being a disjointed collection of essays, however, this book indicates the importance of the interchange of ideas between cultural,
gender and political historians.
Religious If historians are familiar with Thomas Cooper the Chartist, Cooper the lecturer on Christianity is hardly known at all. T. Larson first identifies this historiographical
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gap and then fills it in his ‘Thomas Cooper and the Christian apologetics in Victorian
Britain’ (J. Victorian Culture, 5). D. Lovegrove, ‘ “A set of men whose proceedings
threaten no small disorder”: the Society for Propagating the Gospel at Home, 1798–
1808’ (Scottish Hist. R., 79), convincingly argues that the Calvinist SPGH offered
Scots a genuinely popular approach to religion and stood as ‘an agent and symbol of
important changes in Scottish religion’. P.J. Walker, ‘ “A carnival of equality”: the
Salvation Army and the politics of religion in working-class communities’ (J. Victorian
Culture, 5) demonstrates how Salvationist beliefs about the spiritual world resonated
strongly with long-standing plebian ideas thus helping augment the popularity of the
organization. Attention is then turned to the intersection of popular culture, public
space and the contest between the Salvation Army and its opponents. Contributors to
Recusant History (25) have made sure that it has been a bumper year for bishop
history. A number of authors ponder the lives, times and careers of various Catholic
bishops, often considering particular aspects of their ministries in detail. Titles include
V.A. McClelland, ‘Changing concepts of the pastoral office: Wiseman, Manning and
the Oblates of St Charles’, G. Bradley, ‘In Vineam Domini: Bishop Briggs and his
visitations of the north’, A. Hood, ‘ “Stirring up the pool”: Bishop Thomas Joseph
Brown OSB (1798 –1880) and the dispute between the hierarchy and the English
Benedictines’, M. Clifton, ‘Bishop Thomas Grant as a government negotiator’, P.
Doyle, ‘ “A tangled skein of confusion”: the administration of George Hilary Brown,
Bishop of Liverpool, 1850–1856’, S. Foster, ‘ “In sad want of priests of money”: Bishop
Amherst at Northampton, 1858 –1879’, D. Lannon, ‘William Turner, first bishop of
Salford, pastor and educator’, M Whitehead, ‘Educational turmoil and ecclesiastical
strife: the episcopal career of Joseph William Hendren, 1848–1853’, P. Phillips, ‘ “Or
else we shall be bound hand and foot”: Bishop James Brown and the oversight of
seminaries’. S. Gilley, ‘The legacy of William Hogarth (1786–1866)’ (ibid.) considers
the impact of Hogarth who is made to stand as a representative of the wider changes that
were taking place in the Church. He cast a long shadow that stretched into the middle
years of the twentieth century. A. Bellenger, ‘ “The normal state of the church”: William
Bernard Ullathorne, first bishop of Birmingham’ (ibid.) examines the administration of
Ullathorne and the resultant rapid growth of his the diocese of Birmingham.
Theory and Method Whilst not always concerned directly with modern British history,
History and Theory is, nonetheless, essential reading for anyone interested in historycraft. For the oral historian, L. White’s innovative, and perhaps controversial, ‘Telling
more: lies, secrets and history’ aims to attribute ‘untruths’ and omissions with legitimate
historical value (Hist. and Theory, 39). C. McCullagh, ‘Bias in historical description,
interpretation and explanation’ (ibid.), and T. Pollman, ‘Coherence and ambiguity in
history’ (ibid.) both question orthodox perceptions of writing and evaluating history.
Any sign that debates concerning the relative virtues and/or evils of postmodernism
might have begun to pale is swiftly countered by the ongoing (terse) discussion
between K. Jenkins and P. Zagorin (ibid.). J. Pieters’ ‘New historicism: postmodern
historiography and between narrativism and heterology’ (ibid.), meanwhile, sets out to
demonstrate that new historicism can be defined as the ‘literary-critical variant’ of new
historiography. Distinguishing between narrativist and heterological strands of postmodern historicism and evaluating the discursive and psychoanalytical methods
associated with these respective strands, Pieters presents a searching critique of the
theory and practice of new historicism. Also worth noting is a special forum on ‘Culture
and explanation in historical enquiry’ (ibid.) whereby several thinkers examine
conceptualizations of culture as meaning and structure.
Much less exciting, J. Meisel’s ‘Words by the numbers: a quantitative analysis and
comparison of the oratorical careers of William Ewart Gladstone and Winston Spencer
Churchill’ (Hist. Research, 73) stakes a claim for using databases of date, subject and
location of political speeches to provide new ways of assessing the role of oratory in
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public life. Admitting the limits of his own methods, Meisel’s project confirms the
suspicion that rigid separation of quantitative from qualitative methods is rarely
productive. Conversely, G. Weiner’s ‘Harriet Martineau and her contemporaries: past
studies and methodological questions on historical surveys of women’ (Hist. of Education, 29) posits a convincing call to feminist historians to embrace new survey methods,
such as prosopography (collective biography). Rather differently, P. Polkey concentrates
on teasing out the multi-layered meanings of self, politics, gender and genre in ‘Reading
history through autobiography: politically active women of the late nineteenth century
britain and their personal narratives’ (Women’s Hist. R., 9).
Original
Article
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(ii) European History
Roger Price and Ian Farr
General In place of the massive and seemingly authoritative, but often dated , volumes,
previously favoured by the university presses, the series for which T. Blanning has
edited The Nineteenth Century. Europe 1789–1914 (OUP, £11.99) provides essays
which offer both students and scholars concise but challenging and up-to-date surveys
of their fields. In this case there are chapters on politics (Tombs); society (Heywood);
economy (Ferguson); culture (Sheehan); international politics (Schroeder); and imperialism (Hopkins); together with an extremely effective introduction and conclusion by
the editor. W. Simpson, M. Jones, Europe 1783 –1914 ( Routledge) provide a substantial
and clearly organised basic textbook for A-level students. For reference purposes
R Frucht, (ed.) contributes a useful ‘historic encyclopedia’ on Eastern Europe in the
Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries (Garland, £75), and M. Chamberlain, The Longman
companion to the formation of European empires 1488–1920. The globalisation
theme is also central to W. Thompson, The emergence of global political economy
(Routledge); and to a lesser degree to G. Richard, Le monde des affaires en Europe:
de 1815 à 1918 (Paris, Armand Colin, F130), which focuses on economic elites, as
well as to the contributions to P. Marguerat, L. Tissot, Y. Froidevaux, (eds) Banques et
enterprises industrielles en Europe de l’ouest, 19e–20e siècles (Geneva, Droz). The
failure of a previous attempt to achieve economic integration is explained by L. Einaudi,
‘From the franc to the Europe: the attempted transformation of the Latin Monetary
Union into a European Monetary Union, 1865–73’ (Econ. H.R. 53). In The great train
race. Railways and the Franco-German rivalry (Oxford, Berghahn, £40), A. Mitchell
provides an important comparative study of rail construction and its implications for
administrative organisation, economic competition and military strategy. The characteristics of technology transfer are also considered by O. Raveux, ‘Un technicien
britannique en Europe méridionale: Philip Taylor (1786 –1871)’ (Histoire, économie et
société, 19); and with a stronger theoretical and statistical base by G. von Tunzelmann,
‘Technology generation, technology use and economic growth’ and R. Fremdling,
‘Transfer patterns of British technology to the Continent: the case of the iron industry’
( both in Eur.R.of Econ.H., 4).
The population of Europe, (Oxford, Blackwell) by M. Livi Bacci offers a stimulating
essay on the inter-relationships between population, resources and disease. M. Labbé,
La population à l’échelle des frontiers. Une démographie politique de l’Europe
contemporaine (Paris, EHESS, $22.87) is more precisely focused on the impact of
frontiers in demographic history, whilst C. Hudemann-Simon’s subject is La conquête
de la santé en Europe, 1750 –1900 (Paris, Belin, F130) and particularly the role of
the medical profession. D. Geary courageously enters into the bitter debate on
‘Labour history, the linguistic turn and postmodernism’ (Cont. Eur.H.9), J. Farr offers
110
a multifaceted understanding of Artisans in Europe, 1300–1914 (CUP, £15.95) which
needed a more discriminating sense of chronology, and H. Cunningham a similarly
wide-ranging consideration of ‘The decline of child labour: labour markets and
family economies in Europe and North America since 1830’ (Econ H.R., 53). B. Caine,
G. Slugu provide an effective survey of the place of women in society in Gendering
European history (Leicester U.P., £15.99) and J. Albisetti, a more specialised consideration of ‘Portia ante Portas: women and the legal profession in Europe, ca. 1870 –1925’
(J. of Social H., 33).
K. Offen challenges male hegemony with a feminist re-reading of European history,
in European feminisms. A political history (CUP, £12.95). Cambridge University Press
has published two books in its Perspectives in History series supposedly for undergraduates. It might be hoped that more substantial fare would be preferred. These volumes
– A. Matthews, Revolutions and reaction. Europe 1789–1848 and R. Browning,
Revolution and nationalities. Europe 1825–90 (£10.95 each) – complete with a useful
selection of documents and visual aids, would appear to be more appropriate for Alevel students, with J. Sperber’s, Revolutionary Europe, 1780–1850 (Longman pbk),
serving as a more challenging and stimulating text for higher education. D. Laven, L.
Riall (eds), Napoleon’s legacy. Problems of government in Restoration Europe (Oxford,
Berg, pbk) fills a major gap in the literature. It includes substantial chapters by the
editors on ‘Restoration government and the legacy of Napoleon’; B. Simms, ‘Napoleon
and Germany: a legacy in foreign policy’; and C. Emsley, ‘The best way to keep the
peace in a country. Napoleon’s gendarmes and their legacy’. The burning issue, then as
now, of distinguishing Citizens and aliens. Foreigners and the law in Britain and the
German states, 1789–1870 (Oxford, Berghahn, £47) is addressed by A. Fahrmeir. On
a positive note R. Liedtke, S. Wendehorst (eds) consider The emancipation of Catholics, Jews and Protestants and the nation state in 19th century Europe (Manchester
U.P., 1999).
D. Parker (ed.), Revolutions and the revolutionary tradition in the west 1560–1991
(Routledge, £15.99) includes essays by J. Breuilly, ‘The revolutions of 1848’ and
D. Geary, ‘The revolutionary tradition in the 19th and early 20 th centuries’. In The
revolutions in Europe 1848– 49 (OUP, £35) edited by R.J.W. Evans and H. Pogge von
Strandmann, the latter asks ‘1848– 49: a European revolution?’ and the former looks
at ‘Liberalism, nationalism and the coming of the Revolution’. R. Gildea sums up by
assessing the significance of ‘1848 in European collective memory’. Similar themes
are taken up by M. Agulhon, ‘L’esprit de quarante-huit’ in J-M. Barrelet, P. Henry,
1848–1998. Neuchâtel, la Suisse, l’Europe (Eds. universitaires Fribourg) and the
contributors to A. Körner (ed.), 1848: a European revolution? International ideas
and national memories of 1848 (Palgrave), including the editor with ‘The European
dimension in the ideas of 1848 and the nationalization of its memories’; J. Breuilly,
‘Connected or comparable revolutions?’; M. Swales, ‘Events and non-events . . . Cultural
reflections of and on 1848’; G. Hauch, ‘Did women have a revolution? Gender battles
in the European revolutions of 1848/49’; together with a summing up by R. Koselleck,
‘How European was the Revolution of 1848/49’. The theme adopted by C. Tacke, (ed.),
1848 is again Memory and oblivion in Europe (Bern, Peter Lang, SF48). The abolition
of slavery in the French colonies ended The politics of slave trade suppression in
Britain and France, 1814– 48 – studied by P. Kielstra (Palgrave, £45).
The importance of The German question and Europe (Arnold, £14.99) is reviewed
by P. Alter, S. Freitag, P. Wende (eds), analyse and present a selection of reports from
British envoys to Germany vol.I 1816–29 (CUP). Diplomatic efforts to maintain the
peace in Europe in 1870 and 1905 are considered by P. Towle, Democracy and peacemaking. Negotiations and debates, 1815–73 (Routledge, £48) and the role of diplomats
in the developing international crisis by M. Hughes, Diplomacy before the Russian
revolution. Britain, Russia and the old diplomacy, 1894–1917 (Palgrave, £45). In
contrast G. Wawro offers a stimulating approach to Warfare and society in Europe
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1792–1914 (Routledge, £15.99). The development of the arms race is analysed in
depth by D. Stevenson, Armaments and the coming of war. Europe 1900–14 (OUP,
£15.99). The limited effectiveness of efforts on the left to prevent war are explained by
W. Marsden, ‘Poisoned history: a comparative study of nationalism, propaganda and
the treatment of war and peace in the late 19th and early 20th century school curriculum’
(H.of Educ., 29) and some of the consequences described by K. Callahan, ‘Performing
inter-nationalism in Stuttgart in 1907: French and German socialist nationalism and
the political culture of an International Socialist Congress’ (Inter. R. of Social H.,
45). Another paradox is apparent when J. Frankel in ‘Jewish politics and the press’
describes ‘the [positive] reception of the Alliance Israelite universelle (1860)’ by their
integrationist co-religionists (Jewish Hist., 14). A. Lindemann considers relationships
between Jews and non-Jews in Anti-semitism before the Holocaust (Longman, pbk).
The development of legal systems is considered by W. Mellaerts in a very effective
comparative study of ‘Criminal justice in provincial England, France and Netherlands,
c. 1880 –1905’; whilst P. Lawrence examines ‘Police memoirs in England and France at
the end of the 19th century’ (both in Crime, histoire et sociétés) and C. Emsley, ‘The
policeman as worker: a comparative survey c.1800–1940’ (Internat. R. of Social H.,
45). D. Headrick, in a work full of insights, considers the storage and transmission of
data in When information came of age. Technologies of knowledge in the age of
reason and revolution, 1700–1850 (OUP, £22.50). J. Burrow is concerned with intellectuals rather than the diffusion of ideas in a valuable study of The crisis of reason.
European thought, 1848–1914 (Yale U.P., £20), whilst in contrast H. McLeod provides
a major social history of Secularisation in western Europe 1848–1914 (Palgrave pbk)
and D. Vincent an effective summary of work on The rise of mass literacy. Reading
and writing in modern Europe ( Palgrave, £14.99). S. Matthíasdóttir considers nationalist perceptions in ‘The renovation of native pasts. A comparison between aspects
of Icelandic and Czech nationalist ideology’ (Slavonic and East Eur.R., 78) and
A. Alcock’s A history of the protection of regional cultural minorities in Europe
(Palgrave) begins with a substantial chapter on the 19th century.
Balkans The Balkan wars 1912–13 are considered by R. Hall as a Prelude to the First
World War (Routledge, £15.99), whilst the role of The Ottoman Empire, 1700–1922
(CUP, £12.95) is clarified by D. Quataert. The increasingly defensive attitudes of the
empire’s elites is clear form S. Deringil, ‘There is no compulsion in religion: on conversion and apostasy in the late Ottoman Empire: 1839–56’ (Comp. Stud. Soc. H., 42).
P. Peckham considers cartographic claims as an aspect of nationalist discourse, in
‘Map mania: nationalism and the politics of place in Greece, 1870–1922’ (Political
Geog., 19). The growing willingness to defend personal honour through the courts
rather than have recourse to a knife is explained by T. Gallant, ‘Honor, masculinity and
ritual knife fighting in 19th century Greece’ (American H.R., 105).
Belgium and the Netherlands M. Wintle provides a comprehensive Economic and
social history of the Netherlands after 1800 (CUP, £40), whilst J. Smits considers ‘The
determinants of productivity growth in Dutch manufacturing, 1815–1913’ (Eur. R. of
Econ. H., 4). More specialised analyses of the engagement of banks in industrial
finance are found in J. Lebrun, Banque et credit en Hainaut pendant la révolution
industrielle belge (Brussels, Palais des academies, 1999) and G. Kurgan-van Hentenryk, ‘La Société Générale de Belgique et le financement de l’industrie, 1870 –1950’
in P. Maguerat et al., Banques et entreprises industrielles. P. Mioche examines the
career of ‘Ernest Solvay, de la creation d’une multinationale à la conquête du marché
français’ – in J. Marseille (ed.), Créateurs et créations d’entreprises (Paris, Assoc.
pour le développement de l’histoire économique, F190). J. Mastboom stresses flexibility
in ‘On their own terms: peasant households’ response to capitalist development’ (Hist.
of Political Thought, 21). Contributions to social history include a major study of
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Domestiques et servants. Des vies sous condition. Essai sur le travail domestique en
Belgique au 19e siècle ( Brussels, Acad.royale de Belgique, BF1800), and N. Bakker, ‘The
meaning of fear. Emotional standards for children in the Netherlands, 1850–1950: was
there a western transformation?’ (J. of Social Hist., 34). K. Sonnenberg-Stern examines the relationship between Emancipation and poverty in the case of The Ashkenazi
Jews of Amsterdam 1796–1850 (Palgrave). The combination of liberalism and brutality which characterised Alien policy in Belgium, 1840–1940. The creation of guest
workers, refugees and illegal aliens is described by F. Caestecker (Bergahn, £40). G.
Deneckere, B. de Wilde consider the constitutional concessions employed to head off
something worse in ‘(Dis)remembering the 1848 Revolution in Belgium. How an
important historical rupture got forgotten’ – in Tacke (ed.), 1848. Memory and oblivion
in Europe (Bern, Lang, £20)
France: general An effective introduction to La France du 19e siècle is provided by
F. Démier (Paris, Seuil), whilst C. Sowerwine offers a very readable overview of France
since 1870. Culture, politics and society (Palgrave, £14.99). The five volumes of the
Histoire de la France published by Seuil in 1990, and organized around such themes
as ‘Héritages’, ‘Choix culturels et mémoire’, ‘La longue durée de l’Etat’ and ‘Les conflits’ are now available at F59 per volume. In France and women, 1789–1914. Gender,
society and politics (Routledge, £18.99), J. McMillan provides a brilliant analysis of
gender relationships and their broad impact. A. Encrevé considers the place in civic
society of ‘French Protestants’ and F. Malino, that of ‘French Jews’ – in R. Liedtke,
S. Wendehorst (eds), The emancipation of Catholics, Jews and Protestants. An
invaluable research tool has been re-produced by Slatkine in the form of a DVD-Rom
version of Pierre Larousse, Grand dictionnaire universel du 19e siècle originally
published in fifteen volumes between 1864 and 1876. (Geneva, Slatkine/Champion
électronique, SF2,900; multi-use DVD, SF 3,500)
Economic The literature on agriculture is rather thin this year. Most noteworthy of all
is B. Bodinier and E. Teyssier’s analysis of the impact of La vente des biens nationaux:
l’événement le plus important de la Révolution, 1790–1867 (Paris, CTHS, F210). Contributions are also made to our knowledge of the complex processes of agricultural
innovation by F. Lalliard, ‘Innovation agronomique et grande propriété aristocratique
en Ile-de-France. La gestion des Berthier à Grosbois (1808–1912)’ (Histoire et
sociétés rurales, 13) and by R. Gratier de Saint-Louis, ‘Du fléau à la batteuse: battre le
blé dans la région lyonnaise’; J-P. Aguerre, ‘Mobilité professionnelle: ouvriers bourreliers
et forgerons dans la région lyonnaise’ and M. Vernus, ‘Un pionnier de l’enseignement
agricole: le docteur Simon Bonnet (1782–1872)’ (all three in Ruralia 6). G. GavignaudFontaine outlines the conditions for wine production at the beginning of the twentieth century in Le Languedoc viticole, la Méditerranée et Europe au siècle dernier
(Montpellier, Université Paul-Valéry, F120), whilst the environmental impact of
changes in farming is considered by P. Valette, F. Gaselle, ‘L’impact des sociétés du
18 e et du 19e siècles sur les paysages garonnais’ (R. de géographie de Lyon, 75) and
P. Charrier, ‘Entre Anjou et pays nantais, interventions humaines et transformations
hydro-morphologiques en Loire amoricaine (1750–1960)’ (A. de géog., 109).
J-M.Chanut et al., L’industrie française au milieu du 19e siècle. Les enquêtes de la
Statistique générale de la France (Paris, EHESS, F350 – including cd-rom) provide
the statistical raw material, an assessment of its accuracy, and a relatively ‘optimistic’
analysis of the state of the economy at mid-century. The use, and abuse, of statistics is
also the subject of G. Klotz, ‘Les statistiques du revenu national en France (1848–
1939): une approche thématique’ – in P. Dockès et al. (eds), Les traditions
économiques françaises ( Paris, CNRS). The same volume provides a wealth of insights
into the perceptions of nineteenth century economists. General articles by F. Hincker,
‘Vers la construction de l’histoire économique comme discipline’ and F. Etner, ‘La
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monnaie et la théorie quantitative en France entre 1873 et 1914’ are accompanied by
studies of the work and influence of leading practioners of the dismal science including Emile Levasseur (by N. Commerçon, B. Boureille); Léon Faucher (G. Jacoud);
Cournot ( F. Vatin); F. Bastiat (P. Solal, A. Zouache); and Paul Leroy-Beaulieu (M. Baslé
and P. Hujon). I. Boussard examines the work of another influential practioner in
‘Léonce de Lavergne, un libéral, un des pères de l’école d’économie rurale française
(1809–80)’ (Cahiers d’histoire, 45). L. Le Van-Lemesle considers ‘Les économistes
français du 19e siècle et la création d’entreprise’ – in J. Marseille (ed.), Créateurs et
créations d’entreprises. Alternative perceptions are offered by M. Hewitson, ‘German
public opinion and the question of industrial modernity: Wilhelmine depictions of the
French economy’. (Eur. R. of Hist., 7)
Other contributors to the volume edited by Dockès are concerned with the assessment by government engineers of the cost effectiveness and economic impact of road
improvement, and most notably with the work of Jules Dupuit (articles by A. Diemer;
B. Grall; L. Baumstark and A. Bonnafous; and J-M. Glachane). Work on the development of communications also includes a major study by I. Backouche, La trace du
fleuve. La Seine et Paris (1750–1850) (Paris, EHESS, F280) which stresses the importance of the river to the life of the city and within the pre-rail waterway network, and
by S. Richez on ‘L’essor postal dans le Calvados au cours de la seconde moitié du 19e
siècle’ (A.de Normandie, 50). Something of the social impact of improved communications can be gauged from C. Bertho, ‘Manières de circuler en France depuis 1880’;
C. Thompson, ‘Un troisième sexe? Les bourgeoises et la bicyclette dans la France fin
de siècle’; A. Buisseret, ‘Les femmes et l’automobile à la Belle Epoque’; and M.
Flonneau, ‘Infrastructures et citadins: réflexions sur l’acceptation et l’impact de l’automobile à Paris au 20e siècle’ (all four in Le mouvement social). Developing networks
are also the subject of J-P. Barrière, ‘Les réseaux notariaux du 19e siècle dans le
département du Nord: une exceptionnelle permanence’ (R. du Nord) which shows how
growing prosperity in the countryside increased the demand for notarial services, of
F. Yonnet, ‘De l’utopie politique à la pratique bancaire. Les frères Pereire, le Crédit
mobilier et la construction du système bancaire moderne sous le Second Empire’ – in
Dockès et al.; and of A. Plessis, ‘Les créateurs d’entreprises bancaires en France du
19e siècle à nos jours’ (in Marseille ed.) In the same collection, H. Bonin considers the
role of the ‘Banque et creation d’entreprise dans la France’; whilst, in the volume
edited by Dockès, P-C. Pradier reflects on the impact of changes in company law, in
‘Le débat sur les formes d’organization de la production: les économistes françaises et
le droit des sociétés, 1860–1914’. In ‘Dynamique des systèmes techniques et capitalisme: Le cas de l’industrie électrique en France, 1880–1939’ (Histoire, économie et
société, 19) F. Caron is primarily concerned with the impact on capital markets, a
theme he again takes up in the Marseille tome, with ‘Création d’entreprise et innovation’, whilst P. Verley adopts ‘une approche démographique’ to this same process of
‘La création d’entreprise au 19e siècle’, and M. Hau considers ‘Industrialization and
culture: the case of Alsace’ (J. of Eur. Econ. Hist.).
The focus shifts to particular industries, including textiles with two articles on
proto-industrialization and de-industrialisation by C. Cailly, ‘Proto-industrialisation
textile et développement régional rural, 18–19e siècles. L’exemple de l’industrie
toilière du Perche’ and J. Maillard, ‘La disparition des fileuses rurales dans la manufacture choletaise au début du 19e siècle’ (both in A. de Bretagne, 107); S. Chassagne,
‘L’industrie de la schappe dans la région lyonnaise au 19e siècle: une création originale’
– in Marseille (ed.), Créateurs et créations d’entreprises, together with P. Deyon’s
analysis of the inter-face between business and politics in ‘L’industrie amiénoise au 19e
siècle et les seductions du protectionnisme’ (R. du Nord, 82). Watchmaking is the
subject of E. Toillon, Besançon, ville horlogère (Tours, Alan Sutton, F130); printing
and publishing of F. Eveno, ‘Fortunes et déboires des créateurs de presse’ and J-Y.
Mollier, ‘La création d’entreprises dans le monde de l’édition du 18e au 20e siècle’;
114
building, that of A. Berthonnet, ‘De maçons creusois à entrepreneurs de construction:
une approche sectorielle et régionale de la création d’entreprise’; and chemicals of
S. Chauveau, ‘De l’officine au laboratoire. Comment les pharmaciens devinrent industriels?’ (1830–1914) (all in Marseille, (ed.).
M. Kabouche, Patrimoine industriel de la Gironde (Paris, Eds.du Patrimoine, F95)
offers an introduction to the industrial history of the department and insights into the
continuous process of adaptation, which characterises many industrial sites. J Bonhôte
stresses the importance of forest to the traditional pastoral economy and to metallurgy
well into the 19th century in Forges et forêts dans les Pyrénées ariègoises. Pour une
histoire de l’environnement (Paris, PyréGraph). Studies of particular enterprises in
metallurgy and engineering include those of by R. Commère, Mémoires d’acier en
Ondaine. Histoire d’un site métallurgique en région stéphanoise. Du martinet à la
haute technologie (Publics. de l’Université de Saint-Etienne, F190); A. d’Angio, ‘La
création et les débuts de la société Schneider frères et Cie (1836–45), ou l’expérience
de la gérance à deux’ (in Marseille, ed.) as well as Schneider et cie.et la naissance de
l’ingénierie ( Paris, CNRS, F150); M. Hau, ‘Le modèle rhénan: la recréation permanente?
Le cas de Dietrich’ (in Marseille, ed.) and R-R. Park, ‘La Société de construction des
Batignolles: des origines à la Ire guerre mondiale (1846–1914)’. (Histoire, économie
et société, 19). Other noteworthy studies of innovating entrepreneurs included in the
volume edited by Marseille include L. Dumont, ‘La creation d’entreprises caoutchourières à Clermont-Ferrand’; J-C. Daumas, ‘Du colportage à l’industrie: portrait d’un
fondateur de dynastie manufacturière’; G. Emptoz, ‘La création de l’Air Liquide au
début du 20e siècle’; S. Gramond, ‘Paul Dupont, imprimeur en lettres à Paris: une
stratégie de la réussite?’. Efficient marketing appears to have been the secret of
success for ‘Jean-Marie Moët (1758–1841) pionnier et leader du négoce en vin de
Champagne’, studied by C. Desbois-Thibault and later for J-L. Escudier’s subject
Edmond Bartissol 1841–1916. Du canal de Suez à la bouteille d’apératif (Paris, CNRS,
F140). The advertising of wines and liquors is described by O. Londeix, ‘Lillet, 1862–
1985: l’esprit du sud-ouest à l’épreuve de la société de consommation’ (A. du Midi,
112).
Significant contributions to the history of the service sector of the economy are also
made in N. Coquery (ed.), La boutique et la ville. Commerces, commerçants, espaces
et clientèles 16 e–20 esiècle (Tours, Université François Rabelais, F160), including, on
the development of retail space, F. Courpotin, ‘De la boutique sur rue au magasin:
construction et aménagement’; C. Velut, ‘Le monde intérieur de la boutique: les
boutiques de papiers peints à Paris, 1750 –1820’; F. Tétart-Vittu, ‘Le magasin des grâces.
Architecture, décor et montre de la boutique de modes et nouveautés dans la première
moitié du 19e siècle’; B. Angleraud’s study of the social role of the bakers shop in a
popular quartier of Lyon in ‘La pain quotidien: la boutique boulangère au cœur des
sociabilités de quartier au 19e siècle’; R. Péron’s analysis of perceptions of urban space
in ‘Les commerçants dans la recomposition urbaine: une analyse des représentations
sociales et spatiales des parlementaires’; M. Martin, ‘Le petit commerce urbain de
province et la publicité’ and A Soria’s analysis of social mobility in ‘Sommet de la
réussite sociale? L’entrée à la chambre de commerce de Lyon (1908)’. The developing
fashion trade is the subject of F. Foulks, ‘Quality always distinguishes itself. Louis
Hippolyte Le Roy and the luxury clothing industry in early 19th century Paris’ – in
M. Berg, H. Clifford (eds), Consumers and luxury. Consumer culture in Europe 1650–
1850 (Manchester U.P., 1999). Critics of market liberalisation and of a role for women
in the economy are the subject of V. Thompson, The virtuous marketplace. Women and
men, money and politics in Paris, 1830–70 (Johns Hopkins U.P.).
Social J-L.Ormières examines the links between demographic behaviour and cultural
variables in ‘Natalité, fécondité et illégitimité en Anjou au 19e siècle’ (Histoire, économie et société, 19), whilst P. Brasme considers both the impact of socio-economic
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e
change and post 1870 Germanisation on La population de la Moselle au 19 siècle
(Metz, Serpernoise, F160). The symbolism of memorials provides evidence for J.
Leduc, ‘Les attitudes devant la mort: l’exemple du cimetière de Terre-Cabade à Toulouse (19e–20e siècles)’ (A. du Midi, 112). The growing gulf between the law and the
ways in which people lived their lives is illustrated by R. Fuchs, ‘Seduction, paternity,
and the law in fin-de-siècle France’ (J. of Mod. Hist., 72). Evidence on health standards
is considered G. Lambrouin, ‘Exemptés et exemptions du service militaire dans les
campagnes lyonnaises au 19e siècle’ (Cahiers d’histoire, 45). Guidance to archive
sources on medical care is contained in Assistance publique/Hôpitaux de Paris, Des
hôpitaux à Paris: état des fonds des archives de l’Assistance publique-Hôpitaux de
Paris ( Paris, AP/HP, F350) and a case study provided by P-Y. Donzé, L’hôpital bourgeois de Porrentruy (1670–1870). Gestion du patrimoine, médicalisation des soins et
assistance aux pauvres (Cercle d’études historiques de la Société jurassienne d’émulation).
The density of the medical network is surveyed by A. Gérard, ‘La montée en puissance
des réseaux médicaux dans le département du Nord au 19e siècle’ (R. du Nord, 82).
Explanations of relatively low levels of emigration are considered by F. Weill, ‘Intègration au national et migration aux Amériques. Réflexions sur l’exemple français’ –
in M. Agulhon et al., La politisation des campagnes au 19e siècle. France, Italie,
Espagne et Portugal (Ecole française de Rome). J. Vigreux offers bibliographical guidance in ‘Recherches sur la civilisation urbaine à l’Institut d’histoire contemporaine de
l’Université de Bourgogne’ (A. de Bourgogne, 71, 1999). The contributors to a special
number of the Revue du Nord 82 on ‘Les métamorphoses des réseaux urbains dans la
France du nord de Louis XIV à nos jours’ include P. Bruyelle, ‘L’armature urbaine de
la France du nord jusqu’à la seconde guerre mondiale’ and R. Plessix’s study of inmigration in ‘L’aire d’attraction des petites villes, étude comparée dans la France du
nord et du nord-ouest’. M-C. Blanc-Chaléard takes the case of Les italiens dans l’est
parisien to provide une histoire d’intégration, 1880–1969 (Ecole française de Rome).
Growing concern with the problems of overcrowding is illustrated by F. Bourillon, ‘La
loi du 13 avril 1850 ou lorsque la Seconde République invente le logement insalubre’,
and Y. Fijalkow, ‘La notion d’insalubrité. Un processus de rationalisation 1850–1902’
(both in R.d’histoire du 19e siècle). Concepts of adolescence and their reflection in
legislation are defined by A. Thiercé, Histoire de l’adolescence (1850–1914) (Paris,
Belin, F120).
Insights into the life style of the social elite are offered by M-P. Sampson-Leman,
‘Les châteaux du 19e siècle en Seine-Maritime’ (Etudes normandes), whilst the trials
and tribulations endured by some of its members are considered by C-I. Brelot in
‘Conflits et déclassement: la légitimité de l’histoire des élites en question’; N. ClaretPloquin, ‘Noblesses en déclassement, noblesses en souffrance’; and S. Patural, ‘Elites
et archives judiciaires: notables lyonnais en conflit (1848–60)’ (all three in Cahiers
d’histoire, 45). Elite perceptions of poverty are defined by L. Cattin, ‘La perception de
l’errance et du vagabondage par les économistes français au 19e siècle’ and A. Tanon,
‘Valeur-travail et justice sociale: les critiques des catholiques sociaux à la doctrine de
Bastiat’ – both in Dockès, Les traditions. More objective assessments of the scale of the
problem are attempted by C. Morrisson, W. Snyder, ‘The income inequality of France
in historical perspective’ (Eur. R. of Econ. Hist., 4); S. Muckensturm, ‘La quantification
d’un phénomène social: l’indigence en France dans la première moitié du 19e siècle,
1790–1850’ (Histoire, économie et société, 19), which highlights the especially dire
situation in the west and north, and T. Smith who examines ‘The plight of the ablebodied poor and the unemployed in urban France, 1880–1914’ (Eur. H. Quarterly, 30),
whilst J-F. Wagniart uses judicial dossiers in an effort to allow the most deprived to
speak for themselves, in ‘A la recherche de la parole errante (1871–1914) (R. d’histoire
du 19e siècle). The provision of assistance to the poor is discussed by S. Grogan,
‘Philanthropic women and the state: the Société de charité maternelle in Avignon,
1802–1917’ (French Hist., 11), and self-help by K. van Wynendaele, ‘La vivacité d’une
116
forme de sociabilité populaire: les sociétés de secours mutual dans le Nord sous la
Monarchie de Juillet’ (R. du Nord, 82) and E. Praca, Les sociétés de secours mutuels
et leur union dans les Pyrénées-Orientales (19 e–20 e siècles) (Canet, Llibres del Trabucaire). G. Jorland re-assesses the value of a much-used source in ‘Où est l’erreur? Les
budgets ouvriers au 19e siècle selon Villermé’ (Histoire et mesure, 15), whilst the diets
of the poor are considered by the contributors to Congrès des sociétés historiques
et archéologiques de Normandie, Manger et boire en Normandie (Caen, Musée de
Normandie, F150). Changing approches to diet amongst the well-fed are discussed
by C. Crossley, ‘Attitudes towards animals and vegetarianism in 19th century France’
in Cornick Crossley (eds), Problems.
Politics A substantial contribution has been made to the debate on rural politicisation
inaugurated by M. Agulhon and E. Weber by the contributors to M. Agulhon et al., La
politization des campagnes au 19e siècle. France, Italie, Espagne et Portugal (Ecole
française de Rome). The extreme complexity of the question is only too evident from
a reading of, most notably, A. Corbin, ‘Recherche historique et imaginaire politique. A
propos des campagnes françaises au 19e siècle’; J-P. Jessenne, ‘Synergie nationale et
dynamique communautaire dans l’évolution politique rurale par-delà la Révolution
française (vers 1780-vers 1830)’; J-T. Chanet, ‘Ecole et politisation étatique dans les
campagnes française au 19e siècle’; J-C. Martin, ‘Face à la Révolution, quelle politisation des communautés rurales?’; P. Dupuy, ‘Les campagnes blanches de l’ouest de la
France (1793–1850): sub-culture politique ou proto-politique populaire?’; J-L. Mayaud,
‘Pour une communalisation de l’histoire rurale’; P. McPhee, ‘Contours nationaux et
régionaux de l’associationnisme politique en France (1830–80)’; R. Hubscher, ‘Syndicalisation agricole et politisation paysanne’; and C. Ford, ‘The use and practice of the
politicization of rural France during the 19th century’. To these might be added F.
Ploux, ‘L’imaginaire social et politique de la rumeur dans la France du 19e siècle
(1815–70)’ (R. historique).
P. Pilbeam has written a concise and well-informed history of The constitutional
monarchy in France, 1815–48 (Longman, pbk) which includes documents. Similar
ground is covered by T. Backouche, La monarchie parlementaire: de Louis XVIII à
Louis-Philippe (1815–48) (Paris, Pygmalion, F150). The significance of Versailles. Le
roi et son domaine during the Restoration is considered by V. Maroteaux (Paris, Picard,
F300). The problems faced by the restored monarchy are considered by B. Fitzpatrick,
‘The Royaume du Midi of 1815’; P. Pilbeam, ‘The impossible Restoration: the left and
the revolutionary and Napoleonic legacies’; and R. Alexander, ‘No minister: French
Restoration rejection of authoritarianism’ – all three in D. Laven, L. Riall (eds),
Napoleon’s legacy and by O. Tort, ‘La dissolution de la Chambre des députés sous la
Restauration: le difficile apprivoisement d’une pratique institutionnelle ambiguë’. The
motives of the assassin are examined by G. Malandain, ‘La conspiration solitaire d’un
ouvrier théophilanthrope: Louvel et l’assassinat du duc de Berry en 1820’(both in
R. historique). J. Gunn describes the development of the politics of party in ‘Conscience, honour and the failure of party in Restoration France’ (Hist. of political
thought, 21), whilst P. Triomphe compares the distinctive historical references
employed by ultraroyalist and liberal deputies in ‘Un pantheon, deux mémoires? Les
personnages historiques dans le discours des députés de la Restauration’ (Histoire,
économie et société, 19). The characteristics of local elites are outlined by V. Bouscatel,
La notabilité en Ariège, 1814–30 ( Nîmes, Lacour, F100), and the developing challenge
to traditional elites in Y. Le Marec, Le temps des capacités. Les diplômés nantais à la
conquête du pouvoir dans la ville (Paris, Belin, F130).
In ‘Getting out the vote’, M. Crook analyses ‘electoral participation in France,
1789–1851’ – in Cornick, Crossley (eds), Problems in French history. J-P. Aguet
reviews the ‘Débats et combats sur la liberté de la presse en France (1814–48)’ – in
Barrelet, Henry (eds), 1848–1998. Poetic representations of the July Revolution are
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presented by I. Tournier, ‘Le moment Barbier ou la vérité de Juillet’ (Romantisme).
The difficulties of the post-revolutionary period are illustrated by T. Bouchet, Le roi et
les barricades. Une histoire des 5 et 6 juin 1832 ( Paris, Seli Arslan), who also considers
changing perceptions of these events in ‘Le cloître Saint-Merry (5 – 6 juin 1832). Histoire
d’un cheminement vers l’oubli (1836–62)’ (R. d’histoire moderne et contemporaine,
47), and less dramatically by J-F. Jacoutry, ‘Une aristocratie dans la démocratie? Le
débat politique sur la Chambre des pairs au début de la Monarchie de juillet (et ses
conditions historiques et théoriques) (R. d’histoire du 19e siècle). C. Croisille (ed.),
Correspondance d’Alphonse de Lamartine tome I (1830–32) (Paris, Honoré Champion, F600) provides insights into aristocratic salon society and its author’s thoughts
about a political career. The initial relaxation of censorship inaugurated a golden age
of caricature and the poirification of Louis-Philippe. The entrepreneurial and political
skills of the editor of La Caricature and Le Charivari are illustrated by D. Kerr, Caricature
and French political culture, 1830– 48 (OUP, £45). Insights into the evolution of
republican ideas are provided by L. Colantonio, ‘Daniel O’Connell: un irlandais au
coeur du discours républicain pendant la Monarchie de Juillet’ (R. d’histoire du 19e
siècle) and P. Ardaillou, ‘Ni rouge, ni blanc, mais bleu. Le libéralisme républicain
havrais au 19e siècle’ (Etudes normandes). P. Pilbeam’s valuable insights into attitudes
towards the ‘social question’ in French socialists before Marx (Chesham, Acumen,
£14.95) might usefully be supplemented by her article on ‘A forgotten socialist and
feminist: Ange Guépin’ in M. Cornick, C. Crossley, (eds) Problems in French history
and by A. Tiran, ‘L’économie mutuelliste de P-J. Proudhon’ in Dockès (ed.), Les traditions économique. The development of another potent ideology is described by N.
Petiteau, Napoléon, de la mythologie à l’histoire (Paris, Seuil), by B. Day-Hickman,
‘Napoleon Bonaparte: un nouveau saint dans la bibliothèque bleue?’ in T. Delcourt, E.
Parinet (eds), La bibliothèque bleue et les littératures de colportage (Paris, Ecole des
Chartes, F130) and R. Alexander, ‘The hero as Houdini: Napoleon and 19th century
Bonapartism’ (Mod. and contemp. France). The debate on asylum policy provoked by
the growing numbers of political refugees is outlined by C. Mondonico-Torr, ‘Les
réfugiés en France sous la Monarchie de Juillet’ (R. d’hist. mod. et contemp., 47).
A brief introduction to ‘The Revolution of 1848– 49 in France’ is provided by G.
Ellis’ contribution to Evans, Pogge von Strandmann, (eds), The revolutions in Europe.
In contrast, J-L. Mayaud, ‘1848 and France. The Revolution, its uses and commemorations (19th and 20th centuries)’ in C. Tacke (ed.), 1848 and A. Körne, ‘Ideas and
memories of 1848 in France: nationalism, République universelle and internationalism
in the goguette between 1848 and 1890’ in Körner (ed.), 1848 are concerned with
memories, the latter with songs. J-C. Caron considers the causes of the February revolution in ‘Entre l’impromptu et le programme: la Révolution de 1848 en France’ in
Barrelet, Henry (eds), 1848–1998, and L. Hincker the profiles of insurgents in February
and June, in ‘Essai de sociobiographie du citoyen-combattant parisien de la Seconde
République’ (Cahiers d’histoire, 45). D. Barry focuses on ‘Community, tradition and
memory among rebel working-class women of Paris, 1830, 1848, 1871’(Eur. R. of H., 7),
The debate on what sort of republic is illustrated by R. Dalisson, ‘République, fête et
démocratie, l’enjeu des célébrations de l’année 1848 à Rouen’ (Etudes normandes)
and P. Stock-Morton’s The life of Marie-d’Agoult alias Daniel Stern (Johns Hopkins
U.P., £33). Contrasting liberal and socialist perspectives are presented by F. Demier,
‘Les économistes libéraux et la crise de 1848’ and A. Benausse, ‘François Vidal (1812–
72): une analyse monétaire au service d’un projet socialiste pendant la Deuxième
République- both in Dockès, (ed.) and by P. Verley, ‘L’anticapitalisme quarante-huitard
ou l’apprentissage des circuits de la finance’ in Barrelet, Henry (eds), 1848–1998.
G. Andrey contributes a valuable guide to ‘La presse parisienne de 1848 et la collection de journaux de la Fondation Claude Bellanger’ (ibid.). Representations of 1848 in
literature and drama are revealed by R. Spang, ‘First performances – staging memories
of the French February Revolution’ in Körne, (ed.) 1848. At least the advent of the
118
Republic marked the success of the abolitionist movement described in Y. Bénot,
M. Dorigny (eds), Grégoire et la cause des noirs (1789–1831) (St-Denis, Soc.française
d’histoire d’outre-mer, F120) and L. Jennings, French antislavery. The movement for
the abolition of slavery in France, 1802–1848 (CUP).
The tortuous character of the debate on a constitution for the Second Republic is evident
from J. Bart et al., La constitution du 4 novembre 1848: l’ambition d’une république
démocratique (Eds. universitaires de Dijon, F240). The election of a Prince-President
in December was followed by the coup d’état of December 1851 and the two plebiscites
studied by the contributors to F. Bluche (ed.), Le prince, le people et le droit. Autour des
plébiscites de 1851 et 1852 (Paris, PUF) which appear unusually sympathetic to the
author of the coup. Even if their analyses are open to challenge, however, they remain
extremely informative. Note, in particular Bluche’s general study of ‘L’adhésion
plébiscitaire’, together with H. Delyfer, ‘Une comédie de suffrage universel?’. These are
supplemented by studies of the plebiscites in the east (G. d’Andau); Nord (L.Tilmant);
centre (T. Poulichat); Corsica (M-P. Cervoni-Lapille); and of the Protestant response
(C. Klein). In addition, F. Saint-Bonnet considers the ‘Technique juridique du coup
d’état’; M. Pétroff the subsequent ‘L’éclipse du droit constitutionnel’; X. Derrieu,
‘Démocratie directe et plébiscite sous le Second Empire’. The personality and objectives of the man who would be emperor are reviewed by J. Boudon, ‘Louis-Napoléon
Bonaparte: du jacobinisme au socialisme?’; J-P. Andrieux, ‘Le prince, le people et la
nation’; and S. Mouré, ‘L’idée impériale’. An antidote to misplaced sympathy for the
new authoritarian regime is provided by L. Devance, Entre les mains de l’injustice.
L’affaire Vaux et Petit (1851–97) (Eds. universitaire de Dijon), which exemplifies the
ability of local elites to employ judicial power to ‘punish’ political opponents, and
S. Aprile, ‘Qu’il est dur à monter et à descendre l’escalier d’autrui. L’exil des proscrits français sous le Second Empire’ (Romantisme). The career of an exceptional
military opponent of the new regime is outlined by J-M. Largeaud, ‘Le lieutenant-colonel
Charras, soldat de la République?’ (R. d’histoire du 19e siècle).
Les députés du Second Empire. Prosopographie d’une élite du 19e siècle, (Paris,
Honoré Champion) by E. Anceau is absolutely indispensable for an understanding of
the workings of the regime. The publication in a new edition of all three volumes of
Baron Haussmann’s Mémoires (Paris, Seuil, F295) is also to be warmly welcomed. F.
Goldschmidt et al., Le comte de Nieuwerkerke. Art et pouvoir sous Napoleon III (Paris,
Réunion des musées nationals, F180) is the catalogue of an exhibition devoted to
another eminent representative of the regime and powerful figure in the art world.
Insights into the regime’s foreign policy are provided by a massive biography of a
leading figure in the diplomatic world Aimable-Guillaume-Prosper Brugière, Baron de
Barante (1782–1866), Homme politique, diplomate et historien, by A. Denis (Paris,
Honoré Champion, F900), and R. Golicz, ‘Napoleon III, Lord Palmerston and the
entente cordiale’ (History Today), whilst A. Pitt examines the development of liberal
ideas in ‘A changing Anglo-Saxon myth: its development and function in French
political thought 1860–1914’ (French Hist., 14). The views of a constant and influential
critic of the imperial regime are outlined by S. Gemie, ‘The Republic, the People and
the writer: Victor Hugo’s political and social writings’ (ibid.) Evidence of the greater
freedom allowed to critics as a result of liberalisation can be found in S. Le Men, ‘Une
lithographie de Daumier en 1869, Lanterne Magique!!!!’ (R. d’histoire du 19e siècle).
S. Harrow considers the links between the author’s political journalism in 1868/70 and
his literary work in ‘Exposing the imperial cultural fabric: critical description in Zola’s
La Curée’ (French studies). J. Milner in Art, war and revolution in France 1870–71.
Myth, reportage and reality ( Yale U.P.), together with a much less ambitious, but again
well illustrated book by R. Hoyndorf, W. Schneider, 1870. La perte de l’Alsace-Lorraine
(Strasbourg, Coprus, F128) and the catalogue of the exhibition La Commune photographiée, edited by Q. Bajac (Paris, Réunion des musées nationaux) offer both insights
into the experience of conflict, discussion of the provenance and of the value of paintings
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and photographs as evidence for the historian. G. de Broglie puts a positive spin on
the career of the incompetent Marshal MacMahon (Paris, Perrin, F149). Military
reform in the aftermath of defeat ensured that most young men would spend time in
the army, an experience described by O. Roynette, Bons pour le service. L’expérience
de la caserne en France à la fin du 19e siècle (Paris, Belin, $22,71). D. Hopkin uses
folkloric evidence to identify ‘La Ramée, the archetypical soldier, as an indicator of
popular attitudes to the army in 19th century France’ (French Hist., 14).
W. Fortescue, The Third Republic in France 1870–1940 (Routledge, £16.99) combines narrative with a useful collection of documents on political and social themes. B.
Marnot considers the contribution of one influential socio-professional group to political life in Les ingénieurs au parlement sous la 3e République (Paris, CNRS, $22.87).
Something of the importance of political friendships and informal social networks is
revealed by P. Nord, Impressionists and politics. Art and democracy in the 19th century
(Routledge, £12.99). The roles of three especially influential individuals are defined
by N. Bayon, ‘Jeunesse et genèse d’un groupe politique: le groupe gambettiste’
(R.d’histoire du 19e siècle); D. Watson, ‘A left-wing intellectual of the 1890s: Georges
Clemenceau’ in Cornick, Crossley, (eds) Problems in French history; and A. Soriot,
‘Une nouvelle école d ‘économie sociale à la fin du 19e siècle: le solidarisme de Léon
Bourgeois’ in Dockès et al. (eds), Les traditions économiques françaises. A dramatic
prelude to the separation of church and state is unveiled by R. Bourgeois, L’expulsion
des Chartreux 1903 (Presses univ. de Grenoble). Insights into the development of
socialism are provided by B. Delmas, who considers the role of Marx’s son-in-law in
the diffusion of his ideas, in ‘Paul Lafargue et la critique de l’économie politique’ in
Dockès et al., and by the contributors to C. Latta et al. (eds), Du Forez à la Revue
socialiste: Benoît Malon (1841–93) (Univ. de Saint-Etienne, F150). R. Magraw
considers the competing attractions of left and right for workers in ‘Appropriating the
symbols of the patrie? Jacobin nationalism and its rivals in 3rd Republic France’ in
S. Berger, A. Smith (eds), Nationalism, labour and ethnicity 1870–1939 (Manchester
U.P., 1999), and B. Jenkins the links between ‘Religion and nationalism in late 19th
century France’ in Cornick, Crossley (eds), Problems. Defender of the universal values of
humanity and justice or pornographer and foreigner? J-F. Condette considers reactions
to ‘La translation des cendres d’Emile Zola au Panthéon. La difficile et posthume
revanche de l’intellectuel dreyfusard, juillet 1906-juin 1908’ (R. historique). The politics
of the extreme right are illustrated by J. Nobécourt, ‘Une affaire la Rocque en 1899.
Avant le P.S.F., Justice-Egalité’ (R. d’hist. mod. et contemp., 47), as well as by B. Goyet’s
analysis of the relationships between the literary and political outpourings of
Charles Maurras (Paris, Presse de Sci Po, F90). Differing republican and royalist
perceptions of history, together with the hostility towards Germany which they shared
in 1914 are evident in A. Calagué, ‘Entre mémoire et politique: Bouvines revisité à
sept cent ans de distance’ (R. du Nord, 82). J. Fulcher considers the significance of
‘Concert et propagande politique en France au début du 20e siècle’ (Annales, histoire,
sciences sociales).
The functioning of the administration at local level is considered by the contributors
to J-L. Marais (ed.), Les préfets de Maine-et-Loire (Presses univ. de Rennes, F120);
J-M. Guislin, ‘La dynamique d’une géographie administrative: sous-préfectures et
cantons, 19e-20e siècles’; and M-J. Lussien-Maisonneuve, A. Langlet, ‘L’institution
des architectes départementaux et municipaux et la concurrence des ingénieurs en
France au 19e siècle’ (both in R. du Nord, 82). M. Geny-Mothe, La chasse aux oiseaux
migrateurs dans le sud-ouest. Le droit face aux traditions (Paris, PyréGraph, F258)
illustrates the potential for conflict resulting from efforts to regulate hunting, given its
importance as a source of food and status in rural communities. W. Mellaerts identifies
the reasons for increasing recourse to the courts in ‘In the shadow of justice: popular
uses of the law in urban Normandy. c. 1880–1905’ (French Hist., 14). The problems
of policing are evident in F. Gaveau, ‘De la sûreté des campagnes. Police rurale et
120
e
demandes d’ordre en France dans la première moitié du 19 siècle’ (Crime, histoire et
sociétés) and C. Cartayrade, ‘La gestion du maintien de l’ordre au 19e siècle: l’exemple
de la gendarmarie de l’agglomération lyonnaise (1791–1854)’ (Cahiers d’histoire 45).
In Naissance de la police privée. Détectives et agences de recherches en France 1832–
1942 (Paris, Plon) D. Kalifa describes the emergence of the private detective. In ‘Prisons
à treize sous. Représentations de l’enfermement et imprimés de masse à la fin du
19e siécle’ (R. d’histoire du 19e siècle) he considers fictional descriptions of prison
life. The evolution of an alternative to prison for young offenders is considered by
I. Jablonka, ‘Un discours philanthropique dans la France du 19e siècle: la rééducation
des jeunes délinquants dans les colonies agricoles pénitentaires’ (R. d’hist. mod. et
contemp., 47).
Cultural In Histoire religieuse de la France 1800–80 (3 vols. Toulouse, Privat $14.48
each), G. Cholvy, Y-M. Hilaire provide a thematic re-organisation of a classic study
which first appeared in 1985, with an updated bibliography. The social historian as
well as the historian of religion will welcome a new volume in the series: Paroisses et
communes de France which examines the history of some 450 parishes in the Creuse.
(Paris, CNRS). Religious activity at parish level is described by L-A. Biarnais, ‘Les
Brouzils de 1814 à 1856: un encadrement paroissial dans le bocage vendéen’ and MP. Guérin, ‘La paroisse de Guémené-Penfao au 19e siècle’ – both in Eglise et société
dans l’ouest atlantique du moyenâge au 20e siècle (Presses univ. de Nantes). In G.
Deregnaucourt (ed.), Société et religion en France et aux Pays-Bas 15e-19e siècles
(Artois presses université, F220) Y-M. Hilaire examines the role of ‘Charles de la Tour
d’Auvergne, évêque d’Arras et la reconstitution d’un clergé diocesain (1802–51)’. L.
Perouas offers insights into the concerns of the clergy and laymen with Le catholicisme en Limousin aux 19 e et 20 e siècles à travers sa presse. Les semaines religieuses
(Treignac, Les Monédières, F100), and identifies the characteristics of popular faith in
‘La religion des Limousins 16 e–20 e siècles’ (R. d’hist.mod.et contemp., 47). In ‘La revolution transformiste en France (1800 – 82)’, in the same journal, C. Grimoult examines
the response of religious groups to the development of evolutionist theory. Attitudes
towards ‘L’ouverture dominicale des boutiques au début du 20e siècle’ are reviewed by
R. Beck in Coquery (ed.), La boutique et la ville, and the crusade against both alcoholism and modernity by V. Petit, ‘Le clergé contre l’ivrognerie dans les montagnes du
Doubs. La campagne de Père Ducreux (1864–9)’ (Histoire et sociétés rurales, 13).
Some things never change! Thus the determination of the Catholic hierarchy to protect
the reputation of the institution, even at the expense of children, is evident in C.
Estève’s account of reactions to the rape of a young girl by a priest, in ‘L’affaire Andral
ou la montagne des dévoyées’ (Ruralia, 6). J. Baubérot, V. Zuber reveal Une haine
oubliée: l’antiprotestantisme avant le pacte laïque (Paris, Albin Michel, F140). Anticlerical responses to the hegemonic claims made by the Church are described by E.
Roy-Reverzy, ‘La passion religieuse: les Goncourt, Zola et la question anticléricale’
(Romantisme), whilst J. Stone looks at the debate on the utility of the female congregations in ‘Anticlericals and Bonnes Soeurs: the rhetoric of the 1901 Law of association’ (French Hist.Stud., 23).
The development of an intense competition to control the minds of the young is
evident from S. Curtis, Educating the faithful. Religion, schooling and society in 19th
century France (N. Illinois U.P.) and P. Rocher, ‘Valeurs du sport catholique, valeurs
catholiques du sport. L’Eglise catholique et le vélo’ (Le mouvement social). Perceptions of lay teachers are examined by J-F. Chanet, ‘Vocation et traitement. Réflexions
sur la nature sociale du metier d’instituteur dans la France de la 3 e République’
(R. d’hist. mod. et contemp., 47), whilst one of the primary concerns of L. Clark, The
rise of professional women in France. Gender and public administration since 1830
(CUP, £40) is the development of a lay primary school inspectorate. Textbook publication is considered by J-Y. Mollier, ‘Diffuser les connaissances au 19e siècle, un exercice
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délicat’ (Romantisme). P. Savoie provides a useful reference work with Les enseignants
du secondaire: le corps, les métiers, les carrières. Textes officiels vol.I 1802–1914
(Paris, Economica). In the sphere of higher education S. Dormand examines the career
of ‘Maurice Bourguin (1856–1910) et l’enseignement de l’économie politique à Lille
à la fin du 19e siècle’ – in Dockès, (ed).
The characteristics of popular culture in the countryside are considered by the
contributors to Congrès des sociétés historiques et archéologiques de Normandie, Fêtes
et réjouissances populaires en Normandie (Caen, Musée de Normandie, F150). Fascinating insights into the traditional oral culture are provided by M-L. Tenéze, G.
Delarue, (eds) Nanette Lévesque, conteuse et chanteuse du pays des sources de la
Loire. La collecte de Victor Smith, 1871–76. Le repertoire narratif suivi du repertoire
chansonnier (Paris, Gallimard, $29.73). S. Gerson identifies the didactic features of
urban festivals in ‘Town, nation, or humanity? Festive delineations of place and past in
Northern France, ca. 1825–65’ (J. of Mod. Hist., 72). The decline of the traditional
popular literature distributed by peddlars is described in M. Chaudren’s Colportage et
communication à travers l’histoire d’un village commingeois (Nîmes, Lacour) and
by L. Guillaume, ‘La difficile gestion d’un patrimoine: l’édition troyenne après la
bibliothèque bleue’ in Delcourt, Parinet (eds), La bibliothèque bleue et les littératures
de colportage. The development of alternative means of distribution is charted by
C. Marenco, ‘Le libraire dans la ville, 19e–20 siècle’ in Coquery (ed.), La boutique et
la ville. In Le fait divers en République. Histoire sociale de 1870 à nos jours (Paris,
CNRS) M.M’Sil’s main concern is the social history of the ‘facts’, constructed by the
press and their impact on popular opinion. M. Lagrée et al., take as a case study
L’Ouest-Éclair. Naissance et essor d’un grand quotidien régional, 1899–1933
(Presses Univ. de Rennes). The contributors to M. Piarotas (ed.), Regards populaires
sur la violence (Publications de l’Université de Saint-Etienne) consider the impact of
literary representations of murder and assassination on public attitudes.
J-J. Gislain looks back to ‘Le premier débat sur la méthode historique (1857– 68):
Louis Wolowski et Léonce de Lavergne’ – in Dockès (ed.), Les traditions économique.
A growing concern with personal mortality is evident in volume XI of Jules Michelet.
Correspondance générale, so able edited by L. Le Guillou, and which covers the
period 1866–70. Particularly interesting is the exchange with Edgar Quinet and comments on the progress of his Histoire du 19e siècle. The development, by the former
démocrate-socialiste deputy, of a philosophy of history based on race is outlined by
L. Rignol, ‘Anthropologie et progrès dans la philosophie de l’histoire d’Alphonse
Esquiros. Les systèmes des fastes populaires’ (R. d’histoire du 19e siècle). In Women’s
writing in 19th century France (CUP, £40) A. Finch provides a critical survey of the
work of leading practitioners and of their social and political roles. Thinking about
society was influenced by Le langage des crânes, analysed by M. Renneville in Une
histoire de la phrénologie (Paris, Sanofi-Synthélabo), and by the Naissance d’une
science humaine: la psychologie studied by R. Plas (Presses univ. de Rennes). The
application of the new theories to social analysis is evident from B. Marpeau, Gustave
Le Bon: parcours d’un intellectuel (1841–1930) ( Paris, CNRS).
Perceptions are everything! M. Cornick, ‘Distorting mirrors’, considers ‘problems
of French-British perception in the fin-de-siècle’ in Cornick, Crossley (eds), Problems
in French history. Comparisons with the ‘other’ are often revealing of self-perceptions,
as J. Portes makes clear in Fascination and misgivings. The United States in French
opinion, 1870–1914 (CUP, £40). M. Staum examines the origins of the notion of the
‘civilising mission’ in ‘The Paris Geographical Society constructs the other, 1821–50’
(J.of Historical Geog., 26). C. Hancock considers the tourists’ experience in the
‘Capitale du plaisir: the re-making of imperial Paris’ in F. Driver, D. Gilbert (eds), Imperial
cities (Manchester U.P.) whilst somewhat darker perceptions are presented by S. James,
‘Detecting Paris: the character of the city in Eugène Sue’s Les mystères de Paris
(1842– 43)’ and A. Smart, ‘The darkness and claustrophobia of the city: Victor Hugo
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and the myth of Paris’ (both in Mod. and contemp.France). S. Gerson examines the
evolving cult of the locality in ‘La représentation historique du pays, entre l’Etat et la
société civile’ (Romantisme), as does F. Guillet in the Naissance de la Normandie.
Genèse et épanouissement d’une image régionale en France, 1750–1850 (Caen,
Annales de Normandie, F220), providing a useful summary of his conclusions in an
article with a similar title in Etudes normandes. O. Parsis-Barbubé looks at ‘Les
représentations de la géographie administrative dans la statistique historique et
archéologique des départements de la Somme, du Pas-de-Calais et du Nord au 19e
siècle’ (R. du Nord, 82), whilst J. Christophe contributes a useful guide to ‘Les journaux
de route du Musée national des Arts et Traditions populaires’ (Ethnologie française).
The question of identity is also raised by D. Hopkin, ‘Identity in a divided land:
the folklorists of Lorraine, 1860–1960’ (French Hist. Stud., 23). Changing attitudes
towards survivals of the past are traced by F. Bercé, Histoire du monument français: du
18e siècle à nos jours (Paris, Flammarion, F198) and O. Poisson, ‘Pour une histoire
des monuments historiques’ – in D. Fabre (ed.), Domestiquer l’industrie. Ethnologie des
monuments historiques (Paris, Eds. de la Maison des sciences de l’homme, F130). In
the same volume, and taking Carcassonne as an example, J-P. Pincès, ‘Détruire ou
conserver? L’émergence du monument (1800 –50)’ chronicles the shifts in opinion
which turned a heap of stones to be quarried into a monument to be cherished. C.
Amiel considers the impact of conservation on the local population, in ‘Les tisserands
oubliés ou la mémoire des origines’.
Russia The Longman companion to Imperial Russia by D. Longley provides the wide
range of information typical of this series. The need to employ statistical information
with care is evident from D. Darrow, ‘The politics of numbers: Zemstvo land assessment and the conceptualization of Russia’s rural economy’ (Russian R., 59), usefully
supplemented by the insights into the elite construction of an image of the peasantry
offered by A. Stanziani, ‘Les enquêtes orales en Russie 1861–1914’ (Annales, histoire,
sciences socials, 55). State-village interaction is described by G. Popkins in ‘Peasant
experiences of the late Tsarist state: district congresses of land captains, provincial
boards and the legal appeals process, 1891–1917’ (Slavonic and east Eur.R., 78) and
‘Code versus custom? Norms and tactics in peasant volost court appeals, 1889–1917’
(Russian R., 59). S. Braguinsky, G. Yavlinsky, Incentives and institutions provide an
important study of The transition to a market economy in Russia (Princeton U.P.),
which might be supplemented with D. Saunders, ‘Regional diversity in the later Russian empire’ (Trans. of the Royal Hist. Soc., 10). J. Pallot discusses notions of peasant
‘backwardness’ and land reform proposals in ‘Imagining the rational landscape in late
Imperial Russia’ (J. of Hist. Geog., 26); M. Davis, Late Victorian holocausts (Verso,
£20) provides a climatic explanation for late 1880s famine. S. McCaffray moves into
unexplored territory in ‘To market! To market! The Polish peasantry on the eve of the
Stolypin reforms’ (Slavic R., 59). D. Kerans inaugurates ‘an exploration’ of the role of
‘The workhorse in peasant agriculture’ (Russian Hist., 27). In Warriors and peasants.
The Don Cossacks in late Imperial Russia (Palgrave, £42.50) S. O’Rourke examines
the impact of demographic pressure and growing engagement with the external world,
whilst A. Bitis, J. Hartely, examine the situation of ‘The Russian military colonies in
1826’ (Slavonic and East Eur. R., 78).
I. Blanchard stresses the importance of nonrail demand in ‘Russian railway construction and the Urals charcoal iron and steel industry, 1851–1914’ (Econ.H.R., 53).
In ‘Worker unrest in late 19th century Russia: Tula, a case study’ (Social H., 25),
A. Trapeznik explores the links between strikes and relative prosperity. The importance
of a drink culture to the constitution of worker identity is evident from L. Phillips,
Bolsheviks and the bottle. Drink and worker culture in Saint Petersburg (Dekalb,
N. Illinois U.P.). In contrast R. Sylvester discusses the growing interest in ‘Making an
appearance: urban types and the creation of respectability in Odessa’s popular press,
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1912–14’ (Slavic R., 59). L. Crago examines ‘The Polishness of production: factory
politics and the reinvention of working-class national and political identities in
Russian Poland’s textile industry, 1880–1910’ (Slavic R., 59), a subject also taken up
by J-H. Lim, ‘Labour and the national question in Poland’ in Berger, Smith (eds),
Nationalism, labour and ethnicity. B. Porter challenges accepted explanations of
the emergence of a xenophobic nationalism in When nationalism began to hate.
Imagining modern politics in 19th century Poland (OUP), whilst R. Bobroff discusses
‘Devolution in wartime: Sergei Sazonov and the future of Poland, 1910–16’ (International
H.R., 22).
The postponement of reform is explained by D. Saunders, ‘A Pyrrhic victory: the
Russian empire in 1848’ in Evans, Pogge von Strandmann (eds), The revolutions in
Europe. Insights into official anxiety are provided by A. Schrader, ‘Branding the exile
as other: corporal punishment and the construction of boundaries in mid-19th century
Russia’ in D. Hoffmann, Y. Kotsonil (eds), Russian modernity. Politics, knowledge,
practices (Palgrave). In the same volume definitions of nationality are analysed by
N. Knight, ‘Ethnicity, nationality and the masses: Narodnost and modernity in Imperial Russia’, and C. Steinwedel, ‘To make a difference: the category of ethnicity in
late Imperial Russian politics, 1866–1917’. The situation of the ethnic minorities is
described by A. Jersild, ‘Faith, custom, and ritual in the borderlands: Orthodoxy, Islam
and the small peoples of the middle Volga and the north Caucasus’; P. Werth, ‘The
limits of the religious ascription: baptized Tatars and the revision of Apostasy, 1840s –
1905’ and R. Geraci, ‘Ethnic minorities, anthropology, and Russian national identity
on trial: the Multan case, 1892–6’ (Russian R., 59) and their relationships with the
State by D. Lieven, Empire. The Russian empire and its rivals (John Murray, £27.50).
N. Knight questions the value of Said’s ideas in ‘Grigor’ev in Orenberg, 1851– 62:
Russian orientalism in the service of empire?’ (Slavic R., 59). The debate on the future
of the empire amongst intellectuals is the subject of S. McCaffray, ‘What should
Russia be? Patriotism and political economy in the thought of N.S. Morfvinov’ (ibid.);
D. Offord, ‘Beware the garden of earthly delights: Fonvizin and Dostoevskii on life
in France’ and R. Aizlewood, ‘Revisiting Russian identity in Russian thought: from
Chaadaev to the early 20th century’ (both in Slavonic and East Eur.R., 78). J. Plamper
provides ‘a prosopography’ of ‘The Russian orthodox epicopate, 1721–1917’ (J. of
Social H., 33).
The only unconvincing aspects of an excellent biography of Nicholas II by H.
Carrère d’Encausse (New York, Holmes and Meier, £30) are the attempts to view his
reign less critically. A. Geifman (ed.), Russia under the last Tsar (Oxford, Blackwell),
provides a comprehensive picture of Opposition and subversion, 1894–1917. Thus
under the heading ‘Radical socialists’, A. Liebich discusses ‘The Mensheviks’; R. Williams, ‘The Bolsheviks’; A. Lokshin, ‘The Bund and the Russian-Jewish landscape’; and
M. Melancon, ‘Neo-populism in early 20th century Russia: the Socialist-Revolutionary
Party from 1900 to 1917’. The section on ‘The other adversaries’ includes Geifman,
‘The Anarchists and the obscure extremists’ and T. Weeks, ‘National minorities in the
Russian empire’. On ‘The loyal opposition and the Russian right’, note should be
taken of J. Morison, ‘The State Duma: a political experiment’; M. Stockdale, ‘Liberalism
and democracy: the Constitutional Democratic Party’; D. Pavlov, ‘The Union of October
17’; and A. Bokhanov, ‘Hopeless symbiosis: power and right-wing radicalism at the
beginning of the 20th century’. The final section deals with the State and includes, J.
Daly, ‘The security police and politics in late Imperial Russia’; A. Korros, ‘Legislative
chamber history overlooked: the State Council of the Russian empire’; and G. Freeze,
‘Church and politics in late Imperial Russia: crisis and radicalisation of the clergy’.
Infighting on the left is also described by G. Swain, ‘Stalin’s victory over Lenin: Russian
Social Democrats and the nationality problem’ in Berger, Smith (eds) and in Revolutionary women in Russia, 1870–1917. A study in collective biography (Manchester
U.P.) in which A. Hillyar, J. McDermid have analysed the biographies of 1200 militants.
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C. Steinwedel examines rapidly changing conceptions of political authority in ‘The
1905 Revolution in Ufa: mass politics, elections, and nationality’ (Russian R., 59) and
L. Haimson the build up of potentially dangerous tensions in ‘The problem of political
and social stability in urban Russia on the eve of war and revolution revisited’ (Slavic
R., 59). The growth of international tension is evident from R. Bobroff, ‘Behind the
Balkan wars: Russian policy towards Bulgaria and the Turkish straits’ (Russian R., 59)
Switzerland An effective introduction is provided by D. Birmingham, Switzerland: a
village history (Palgrave, £45). From the same publisher comes M. Butler et al. (eds),
The making of modern Switzerland, 1848–1998 which includes R. Charbon, ‘Contemporary reactions to 1848 by writers and intellectuals’ and T. Maissen, ‘The 1848
conflicts and their significance in Swiss historiography’, a study which might usefully
be supplemented by O. Zimmer, ‘Competing memories of the nation: liberal historians
and the reconstruction of the Swiss past 1870–1900’ ( P. and Pr.). The process of state
formation is discussed by B. Veyrassat, ‘Intégration économique, integration politique:
les enjeux de la construction de l’Etat national. L’exemple de la Suisse et de l’Allemagne, 1815–74’ in Barrelet, Henry (eds), 1848–1998. Neuchâtel, la Suisse, l’Europe.
Other contributors restrict themselves to a narrower compass. These include M. de
Tribolet, ‘Ancien Régime et revolution: le cas neuchâtelois, 1750–1848’; J-M. Barrelet,
‘Agir ou laisser faire? L’économie neuchâteloise avant 1848’, P. Henry, ‘Esclaves, brisez
vos fers! La presse à l’assaut du pouvoir neuchâtelois (1831– 48)’ and R. Guigger,
‘Neuchâtel, la Suisse et l’Europe: options politiques entre 1831 et 1848’. Something
of the impact made by political refugees can be gauged from M. Vuilleumier, ‘Benoît
Malon et l’exil en Suisse’ – in C. Latta et al. (eds), Benoît Malon. The development of
two key industries is described by L. Tissot, Naissance d’une industrie touristique. Les
anglais et la Suisse au 19e siècle (Lausanne, Payot) and S. Paquier, ‘Le financement
de l’industrie électrique suisse des années 1880 à la première guerre mondiale: une
contribution à l’étude des financements de la naissance et de l’essor d’une nouvelle
technologie’ in P. Marguerat et al. (eds), Banques et entreprises industrielle.
Germany general The latest prominent German historian to offer his very substantial
reflections on the German past is H.-A. Winkler, Der lange Weg nach Westen. Vol. 1:
Deutsche Geschichte vom Ende des Alten Reiches bis zum Untergang der Weimarer
Republik (Munich, Beck, DM78). In a more consciously political interpretation than
that of Nipperdey or Wehler, Winkler argues that Germany’s departure from Western
norms was reflected in the construction of a nation-state in which there was both a critical deficit in political freedoms and also an unresolved yearning, among both elites
and the German public, for a providential Reich. Although the latter perspective is provocative and interesting it does not wholly succeed in taking the study beyond what are
by now rather tired views of German exceptionalism. For example, his views on the
role of the Reichstag in Imperial Germany, or on the Germans’ encounter with democracy, will not generate the debate which is sure to follow the ideas and insights offered
in a beautifully written tour-de-force by M. Anderson, Practicing Democracy: Elections and Political Culture in Imperial Germany (Princeton U.P., £15.95). In one of the
most important books on German politics of the last generation, Anderson explores
how voters in Imperial Germany exploited the freedoms given them in elections to
learn some of the core practices of a democratic political culture. Always comparing
Germany with the ‘franchise regimes’ of the late nineteenth century rather than with
the democracies of the late twentieth, Anderson’s findings provide a refreshing antidote
to every student essay that asserts democracy was imposed on Germany in 1918, or the
proposition that, pace Winkler, Germany started with nothing in 1945. They might be
compared with one or two of the essays in C. Lankowski (ed.), Breakdown, Breakup,
Breakthrough: Germany’s Difficult Passage to Modernity. Festschrift for Andrei Markovits (1999, Berghahn, £15). They are certainly in significant contrast to the proposition
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put forward in a rather uneven textbook by M. Seligmann and R. McLean, Germany
from Reich to Republic, 1871–1918 (Macmillan, £15.99), that German politics in this era
revolved around the personalities of those who staffed the Kaiser’s cabinet, and the
failures of Bismarck’s successors as Chancellor to resolve the dilemmas posed by Wilhelm II’s personal rule. The extent to which the emperor was really able to determine
the political agenda and to control the political process, especially after the later
1890s, is astutely questioned in an intelligent and highly enjoyable new biography by
C. Clark, Kaiser Wilhelm II (Pearson, £14.99), which also offers some valuable perspectives on the wider public impact of the monarchy in Germany’s political culture.
The continuing revival of interest in the Kaiser is also reflected in a collction of essays
by a distinguished group of German historians edited by L. Gall, Otto von Bismarck
und Wilhelm II: Repräsentanten eines Epochenwechsels? (Paderborn, Schöningh).
Gall has also been responsible for a new and affordable edition of Bismarck’s memoirs, L. Gall (ed.), Bismarck. Gedanken und Erinnerungen (Frankfurt, Ullstein, 1999),
which includes a useful introductory essay by the editor. The relations between
Bismarck and Germany’s other most flambouyant prince are explored in the article by
D. Albrecht, ‘König Ludwig II. von Bayern und Bismarck’ (H. Zeitschr., 270), while a
second edition of Ludwig’s diary has been produced by S. Obermeier (ed.), Das geheime Tagebuch König Ludwigs II. Von Bayern: 1869–1886 (Munich, Nymphenburger).
The divisions within Germany epitomised by Bismarck and Ludwig are interestingly
reflected in a fine comparative monograph by A. Fahrmeier, Citizens and Aliens. Foreigners and the Law in Britain and the German States 1789–1870 (Berghahn, £47).
Drawing on both administrative records as well individual case studies and travel
accounts, Fahrmeier is able to provide a detailed examination of the practical consequences of alien status in liberal England, as compared to the much more restrictive
German states, where all citizens of other German states were considered ‘foreigners’.
Of direct relevance here are the essays on passports, residency and aliens in the
Habsburg lands edited by W. Heindl and E. Sauerer, Grenze und Staat: Passwesen,
Staatsburgerschaft, Heimatrecht und Fremdengesetzgebung in der österreichischen
Monarchie 1750–1867 (Vienna, Böhlau). Another route into understanding the contrast between liberal modes of thought in Britain and the prevailing world-views in
Germany is offered by S. Murray, Liberal Diplomacy and German Unification
(Praeger, £61.50), in his study of the career of Robert Morier, the British Foreign
Office expert on German affairs in the period leading up to unification in 1871.
Another fruitful slant on German perceptions can be found in M. Hewitson, National
Identity and Political Thought in Germany. Wilhelmine Depictions of the French Third
Republic (OUP, £45). The author suggests we can learn more about how contemporaries conceived of the nation and of reforming Wilhelmine Germany if we appreciate
the extent to which these were embedded in the broader discussion taking place about
other political regimes of the time, one in which French-style parliamentarism was
posited as the main alternative to German constitutionalism. Also of relevance here are
the contrasts suggested in the nature of popular militarism by J. Vogel, ‘Military Folklore, Eigensinn: Folkloric Militarism in Germany and France, 1871–1914’ (Central
Europ. H., 33) and a comparison of tariff policies in both countries by R. AldenhoffHübinger, ‘“Les nations encrasées . . .”. Agrarprotektionismsus in Deutschland und
Frankreich, 1880–1914’ (Gesch. und Gesellschaft, 26). The historian best known for
comparing Imperial Germany and the Third Republic in this period brings his expertise, and his enthusiasm for railways, to bear in A. Mitchell, The Great Train Race:
Railways and the Franco-German Rivalry, 1815–1914 (Berghahn, £47); he shows how
the same technology, borrowed from Britain, was assimilated differently by the two
continental powers as they engaged in an increasingly intense industrial and commercial
rivalry. A different sort of competition, particularly intense in the age of imperialism,
that between scholarly communities and historiographical cultures, is at the heart of the
contributions to B. Stuchtey and P. Wende (eds), British and German Historiography
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1750 –1950. Traditions, Perceptions and Transfers (OUP, £60), although this did not
necessarily prevent historians of the time profiting from each other’s work. Some of
the most eminent members of today’s ‘guild’ of German historians reflect, rightly, on
the significance for Germany of the ‘revolutions from above’ as well as the more
familiar landmarks such as 1848, in R. Rürup (ed.), The Problem of Revolution in Germany 1789–1989 (Berg, £45). Further work on one of the greatest of those reformers
from above, von Hardenberg, will be significantly facilitated by the appearance of
an extensive selection of his diaries and reminiscences by T. Stamm-Kuhlmann
(ed.), Karl August von Hardenberg, 1750–1822: Tagebücher und autobiographische
Aufzeichnungen (Munich, Oldenbourg). Finally, this section would not be complete
without giving the warmest possible welcome to the masterful and typically elegant
history of German museum-building given us by J. Sheehan, Museums in the German
Art World from the End of the Old Regime to the Rise of Modernism (OUP, £26.50).
Few are blessed with such a manifest ability to combine the history of ideas, institutions, and architecture and through that to show so convincingly how the museum
reflected and shaped the place of art in German culture from the late eighteenth to the
early twentieth century.
Politics and Culture At the heart of some of the most rewarding studies of the year
is the continued preoccupation with the nation and national identity. There could be no
more engaging introduction to these issues than the collection of essays by D. Langewiesche, Nation, Nationalismus, Nationalstaat in Deutschland und Europa (Munich,
Beck, DM25.90). One can only hope that this author’s happy blend of the conceptual
and comparative with illustrative case studies will attract an English translation.
Langewiesche’s emphasis on the need to explore both the meaning both of German
nationhood in pre-modern times and also the development of a federalist nationalism
are explored further by some of the contributions to D. Langewiesche and G. Schmidt
(eds), Föderative Nation: Deutschlandkonzepte von der Reformation bis zum Ersten
Weltkrieg (Munich: Oldenbourg). Meanwhile R. Speth, Nation und Revolution: Politische Mythen im 19. Jahrhundert (Opladen: Leske and Budrich, DM98) compares the
relative effectiveness of nation and revolution – here understood not just in the Marxist
sense – as political myths capable of forging collective identities mechanisms in Germany’s emerging political culture. Arguably more challenging to conventional wisdom
on these matters is the monograph by M. Levinger, Enlightened Nationalism: The
Transformation of Prussian Political Culture 1806–1848 (OUP, £41), who argues that
the origins of German nationalism should be traced back to Enlightenment thought
and suggests, with considerable success, that a better understanding of the role played
by the concept of nation in political language should make us rethink the way we view
Prussian politics in the Vormärz. The expression of national consciousness through
musical and festive celebration is charted by H. Unverhau, Gesang, Feste und Politik:
Deutsche Liedertafeln, Sängerfeste, Volksfeste und Festmähler und ihre Bedeutung für
das Entstehen eines nationalen und politischen Bewusstseins in Schleswig-Holstein
1840 –1848 ( Frankfurt, Lang), a work which bears comparison with some of the earlier
essays in S. Behrenbeck and A. Nützenadel (eds), Inszenierungen des Nationalstaats:
Politische Feiern in Italien und Deutschland seit 1860/71 (Cologne, SH-Verlag) which
reinforce the Protestant character of some of the nation-building festivals in Germany.
By contrast, in an intriguing essay on the great Niederwald monument on the Rhine, P.
Mazón, ‘Germania Triumphant: The Niederwald National Monument and the Liberal
Moment in Imperial Germany’ (German Hist., 18), argues that the towering figure of
Germania represented a liberal high point of the Empire while simultaneously symbolising all of the contradictions in that liberal view of the nation. These forms and
symbols of collective memory, and the importance of places of remembrance and
commemoration in shaping a national identity, are stressed by R. Koshar, From Monuments to Traces. Artifacts of German Memory 1870 –1900 (U. California P., $45), one
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of the first full-length studies in English to engage with the recent German literature
on the cultural significance of monuments, some of which is reviewed by D. Crew,
‘Remembering German Pasts: Memory in German History, 1871–1989’ (Central
Europ. Hist., 33). Another equally literal form of nation-building, namely the construction of a new Reichstag building and of many other buildings for the new Reich
administration, are examined by G. Hoffmann, Architektur für die Nation. Der Reichstag und die Staatsbauten des Deutschen Kaiserreichs 1871–1918 (Cologne, DuMont). He concludes that Germany embraced both neo-Renaissance and, under the
influence of Wilhelm II, neo-Romantic and Baroque influences but never found an
authentically German style for its public buildings. Competing visions of what constituted the nation also undermined the Kaiser’s efforts to turn the year of 1913 – the centenary of the Prussian uprising of 1813 and the 25th year of his reign – into a public
affirmation that the monarchy embodied national unity, or so argues, J. R. Smith, ‘The
Monarchy versus the Nation: The “Festive Year” 1913 in Wilhelmine Germany’ (German Studs. R., 23). Meanwhile, the manifold regional identities and traditions evident
in the Germany of the period, and particularly the way in which these were invented
and reinforced by local historical associations, are intriguingly assessed by G. Kunz,
Verortete Geschichte: Regionales Geschichtsbewusstsein in den deutschen Historischen Vereinen des 19. Jahrhunderts (Göttingen, Vandenhoeck, DM 78), who reveals
the contrasting political trajectories such enterprises might take. Recent work emphasising how such local identities were very much part of the way Germans conceived
their nation is reviewed perceptively by C. Applegate, ‘Heimat and the Varieties of
Regional History’ (Central Europ. Hist., 33). Reinforcing our growing awareness of the
regional complexities of nineteenth-century Germany is the very readable study of statebuilding by A. Green, Fatherlands: State-Building and Nationhood in NineteenthCentury Germany (CUP, £45); focusing on the three kingdoms of Hanover, Saxony
and Württemberg, Green’s analysis of themes as diverse as railway construction, the
development of a modern educational system, and the role of monuments, museums
and public festivities marks an important landmark in the history of German state formation. Of all the non-Prussian states Saxony continues to be the one which arguably
continues to attract the most scholarly interest, as attested to by the quality of many of
the essays brought together by J. Retallack (ed.), Saxony in German History: Culture,
Society and Politics, 1830 –1933 (Ann Arbor, U. Michigan P., $59.50), including a
perceptive introduction by the editor. Other studies of Saxony include an important
dissertation by A. Neeman, Landtag und Politik in der Reaktionszeit: Sachsen 1849/50 –
1866 (Düsseldorf, Droste, DM118), though one in which the author’s arguments about
the nature of the the post-revolutionary reaction in Saxony tend to be submerged under
too much detail. Also worthy of note is an examination of the revolutionary events
in that part of Saxony ceded to Prussia, H. Peters, Der preussische Provinz Sachsen
im Revolutionsjahr 1848 (Dessau, Anhaltische Verlagsgesellschaft). This should be
consulted alongside the comparative study of Prussia’s provincial diets in the postNapoleonic era by W. Schubert, Preussen im Vormärz: Die Verhandlungen der
Provinziallandtage von Brandenburg, Pommern, Posen, Sachsen und Schlesien sowie –
im Anhang – von Ostpreussen, Westfalen und der Rheinprovinz (1841–1845) (Frankfurt, Lang, 1999). The 150th anniversary of 1848 is still continuing to yield further
regional studies, among them the substantial two-volume collection on events in the
Palatinate by H. Fenske et al. (eds), Die Pfalz und die Revolution 1848/49 (Kaiserslautern: Inst. f. pfälzische Geschichte und Volkskunde), and a rather more lightweight
volume by S.-M. Bauer et al., Ohne Gerechtigkeit keine Freiheit: Bauern und Adel in
Oberschwaben. Bürger vereinigt euch! Pressfreiheit! Grenzenlose Bewegung am See
1848/49 (Stuttgart, 1999). For a very comprehensive and intelligent appraisal of the
key trends to emerge from this flood of commemorative publications, it is essential to
read the second part of the review by R. Hachtmann, ‘150 Jahre der Revolution von
1848: Festschriften und Forschungserträge. Zweiter Teil’ (Archiv für Sozialgesch., 40).
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The revolutionaries’ universal call in 1848 for press freedom reflected their frustration
with the extent of censorship in the German states since the Carlsbad decrees. The
impact of these decrees on the actual content of Germany’s most famous newspaper of
the day is analysed from both an historical and a more media-studies perspective by
E. Blumenauer, Journalismus zwischen Pressefreiheit und Zensur. Die Augsburger
‘Allgemeine Zeitung’ im Karlsbader System (1818–1848) (Cologne, Böhlau, DM58).
A good sense of the intellectual and political ferment of these years is captured by
U. Backes, Liberalismus und Demokratie – Antinomie und Synthese. Zum Wechs
elverhältnis zweier politischer Strömungen im Vormärz (Düsseldorf, Droste, DM118),
who provides an authoritative account of how democrats’ repsonses to issues such as
popular sovereignty, republicanism and constitutionalism both varied from and
intersected with those of prominent liberal thinkers. Further insights into prevailing
attitudes to constitutionalism can be found in C. Schmidt, Vorrang der Verfassung und
konstitutionellen Monarchie: Eine dogmengeschichtliche Untersuchung zum Problem
der Normenhierarchie in den deutschen Staatsordnungen im frühen und mittleren 19.
Jahrhundert (Berlin, Duncker and Humblot, DM124). Another anniversary, that of
the Prussia’s ultimately abortive attempt at a union of German princes in 1850, is
marked by two works on the Erfurt parliament: the first is a set of essays edited
by G. Mai (ed.), Die Erfurter Union und das Erfurter Unionsparlament 1850
(Cologne, Böhlau), the other a handbook by J. Lengemann, Das Deutsche Parlament
(Erfurter Unionsparlament) von 1850. Ein Handbuch: Mitglieder, Amtsträger, Lebensdaten, Fraktionen (Munich, Urban and Fischer, DM128), whose undoubted value to
future scholars is vitiated somewhat by the unacceptable number of prrof-reading and
other errors.
The year has also seen the appearance of several valuable works on political parties.
Of these probably the most important is a major new history of the early decades of
German Social Democracy by T. Welskopp, Das Banner der Brüderlichkeit: Die deutsche Sozialdemokratie vom Vormärz bis zum Sozialistengestez (Bonn, Dietz, DM128).
Part organisational history of early German Socialism, part cultural history of the everyday life of Socialist associations and part collective biography of the active members
of the movement, this rich and exhaustive study not only breaks new methodological
ground but also challenges the tendency to see developments in this period merely as
a prelude to the formation of the SPD in 1875, especially in the argument that this
movement was a popular radical-democratic, rather than essentially class-oriented
movement. Such a perspective is rather at odds with the views of D. Groh, Emanzipation und Integration: Beiträge zur Sozial- und Politikgeschichte der deutschen Arbeiterbewegung und des 2. Reiches (Constance, 1999, Universitätsverlag Konstanz), a
book which essentially re-packages in one volume some of this author’s now longestablished views of the party. Meanwhile the rather colourful career of the moderate
Frankfurt Socialist, Max Quark, is helpfully told in the new biography by K. Gniffke,
Genosse Dr. Quarck. Max Quarck – Publizist, Politiker und Patriot im Kaisserreich
(Frankfurt, 1999, Kramer, DM56). At the heart of a welcome new monograph by
A. Lauterbach, Im Vorhof der Macht. Die nationallliberale Reichstagsfraktion in der
Reichsgründungszeit (1866–1880) (Frankfurt, Lang, DM68), is the co-operation
between the National Liberals and Bismarck between 1867 and 1878 and the attempts
by the party to make the executive more responsive to the majority parties in the
Reichstag and to advance the rights of parliament through constitutional initiatives.
The other party closest to Bismarck is analysed in depth by V. Stalmann, Die Partei
Bismarcks: Die Deutsche Reichs- und Freikonservative Partei 1866–1890 (Düsseldorf,
Droste, DM118), who demonstrates convincingly how the party eventually subsided
into insignificance as much through its inability, as a collection of reform-minded
notables, to break out of its Prussian heartlands and meet the new electoral competition
of the 1880s onwards as through any fateful dependence on the patronage of the Iron
Chancellor. A companion to Stalmann’s work is M. Alexander, Der Freikonservative
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Partei 1890–1918: Gemässigter Konservatismus in der konstitutionellen Monarchie
(Düsseldorf, Droste, DM98), who emphasizes how the rapidly waning fortunes of the
Free Conservatives in the Reichstag remained something of a contrast to the more
pivotal role they played within Prussia, although even here their mediating role was
terminally undermined before the war. The minority of delegates to the 1871 Reichstag
from Bavaria and Saxony who were not comfortable with either the National Liberals
or the Free Conservatives formed a short-lived Liberal grouping which is the subject
of H. Steinsdorfer, Die Liberale Reichspartei (LRP) von 1871 (Stuttgart, Steiner,
DM148), a substantial study which concentrates very much on the thirty or so individuals concerned but has less to say about the role of this splinter group outside parliament. While the LRP did not survive beyond the election of 1874, the progressive
Liberals of Imperial Germany continued to flourish. In a much-needed reappraisal of
their role and significance, A. Thompson, Left Liberals, the State and Popular Politics
in Wilhelmine Germany (OUP, £55), reminds us that the left liberals, often regarded as
ineffectual and ineffective, had become the third largest party in German politics by
1914 and should not be seen as the inevitable casualties of mass mobilization and
political polarization. These latter processes are the centrepiece of A. Griessmer, Massenverbände und Massenparteien im wilhelminischen Reich: Zum Wandel der Wahlkultur 1903–1912 (Düsseldorf, Droste, DM78), a study whose examination of nationalist
agitation and the search for a national party of the Right is not quite so pioneering
as its author might lead us to think, its careful use of local and regional sources
notwithstanding. Given the emergence of a political mass-market, the attempts by the
government of Wilhelmine Germany to influence public opinion became more critical;
however, the interesting if rather analytically lightweight dissertation by G. Stöber,
Pressepolitik als Notwendigkeit. Zum Verhältnis von Staat und Öffentlichkeit im Wilhelminischen Deutschland 1890–1914 (Stuttgart, Steiner, DM 88), shows the difficulties the regime had in mounting a concerted press and information policy. We have
long known about the extent to which public debate in Imperial Germany was infused
with anti-modern sentiments. K. Repp, Reformers, Critics and the Paths of German
Modernity: Anti-Politics and the Search for Alternatives (New Haven, Harvard U.P.,
$55) rightly draws our attention to those economists, social reformers and political
activists who embraced rather than rejected modernity and were willing to explore the
potential for working with, and not against, the grain of modernisation. For a broader
perspective on these issues one should note also G. Bollenbeck, Tradition, Avantgarde,
Reaktion. Deutsche Kontroversen um die kulturelle Moderne 1880–1945 (Frankfurt,
1999, Fischer, DM68). The sample used by Repp yields rather more insights into the
prevailing intellectual trends than the four examples used by B. Besslich, Wege in
den ‘Kulturkrieg’. Zivilisationskritik in Deutschland 1890–1914 (Darmstadt, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft) in her attempt to trace the roots of the cultural criticism
about the fate of civilisation which emerged during the war. As for the origins of the
war itself, the major addition to the literature this year is a lengthy re-examination of
the character and diplomacy of the German-Austrian alliance by J. Angelow, Kalkül
und Prestige: Der Zweibund am Vorabend des Ersten Weltkrieges (Cologne, Böhlau,
DM118) which concludes, in line with other recent interpretations, that the alliance
was a dynamic relationship in which Austrian interests were not wholly subordinated
to the needs of Berlin. Meanwhile Germany’s interests outside Europe continue to
attract scholarly attention. This is exemplified firstly by the detailed and careful by
R. Tschapek, Bausteine eines zukünftigen deutschen Mittleafrika. Deutscher Imperialismus und die portugesisiche Kolonien. Deutsches Interesse an den südafrikanischen
Kolonien Portugals vom ausgehenden 19. Jahrhundert bis zum Ersten Weltkrieg (Stuttgart, Steiner, DM144), which provides the most complete examination to date of the
Anglo-German negotiations of 1898 and 1911–12, and, secondly, by the methodologically more ambitious intervention of K. Mühlhahn, Herrschaft und Widerstand in der
‘Musterkolonie’ Kiautschou: Interaktionen zwischen China und Deutschland, 1897–1914
130
(Munich, Oldenbourg, DM148), who develops a conceptual model of inter-cultural
interaction to assess the German impact on Jiaozhou after its seizure in 1897. In
similar vein P. Grosse, Kolonialismus, Eugenik und Bürgerliche Gesellschaft in
Deutschland 1850–1918 (Frankfurt, Campus, DM58), is not the first historian in the
last few years to take as his starting-point the argument that the roots of Nazi racism
can be traced back to the era of imperialism, when Germany’s short-lived colonial
empire stimulated the emergence of new eugenic and biological conceptions of modern society. The role played by the German navy in exploring more remote territories
and representing German scientific achievement is assessed by A. Griessmer, ‘Die
Kaiserliche Marine entdeckt die Welt. Forschungsreisen und Vermessungsfahrten im
Spannungsfeld von Militär und Wissenschaft (1874 bis 1914)’ (Militärgeschichtliche
Z., 59). In his German Travel Cultures (Oxford, Berg £14.99), Rudy Koshar traces the
evolution of modern tourism, using a selection of travel guidebooks to Germany as his
primary source. Central to the early part of his story are the Baedeker guides, whose
various editions Koshar draws on to sustain his idea of a distinctive ‘national-liberal
travel culture.’
Society and Economy The ability of the two major research projects on the German
bourgeoisie to generate monographs and essay collections shows little sign of waning.
This year the Bielefeld group, which tends to focus more on political behaviour and
cultural norms than its Frankfurt rival, has been more productive in terms of publications. The supposedly new value system of the bourgeoisie is explored in a series of
essays edited by M. Hettling and S.-L. Hoffmann, Der bürgerliche Wertehimmel:
Innenansichten des 19. Jahrhunderts (Göttingen, Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, DM58),
a collection which gives a strong indication of some of the directions in which this
project will go next. Some of these ideas are also reflected in the comparative study by
M. Hettling, Politische Bürgerlichkeit: Der Bürger zwischen Individualitat und Vergesellschaftung in Deutschland und der Schweiz von 1860 bis 1918 (Göttingen, Vandenhoeck
& Ruprecht, 1999, DM98), although the principal focus is on the relative failure of the
German middle classes, as distinct to their Swiss counterparts to impose their political
values on the German Empire – scarcely a surprising conclusion to come from the
Bielefeld stable! By contrast, M. Hurd, Public Spheres, Public Mores and Democracy.
Hamburg and Stockholm, 1870–1914 (Ann Arbor, U. Michigan P., $54.50) argues that
the distinctiveness of the German bourgeoisie was its very strength, particularly in
major urban centres, which made it reluctant to negotiatwe with ‘lesser’ social groups.
In Stockholm, working-class efforts to partake of the bourgeois public sphere paved
the way for liberal-socialist cooperation after 1900, whereas to the bourgeois and liberal elites of Hamburg such activity made the socialist threat all the more potent and
one to be countered by all means possible. In similar vein the afore-mentioned S.-L.
Hoffmann, in his Die Politik der Geselligkeit. Freimauererlogen in der deutschen
Bürgergeselleschaft (Göttingen, Vandenhoeck, DM68) attempts to reconstruct the
internal world of the Masonic lodge and assess its significance for the German
Bürgertum, concentrating in particular on the dichotomy between the moral universalism and civilising mission preached by freemasons and the practice of excluding
workers as well as Jews, Catholics and women. For a brief insight in English into
some of these questions, see the same author’s article ‘Brothers or Strangers? Jews and
Freemasons in Nineteenth-century Germany’ (German Hist., 18). A further offshoot
of this research has been the study of bourgeois philanthropists such as the successful
Jewish textile entrepreneur who is the subject of O. Mattes, James Simon, Mäzen im
Wilhelminischen Zeitalter (Berlin, Bostelmann and Siebelhaar, DM70). So extensive has
been the output of the Bielefeld eneterprise that it was felt appropriate to attempt some
overall evaluation of its first decade’s activity; however, given that all the contributors
to P. Lundgreen (ed.), Sozial- und Kulturgeschichte des Bürgertums: Eine Bilanz
des Bielefelder Sonderforschungsbereichs (1986–1997) (Göttingen, Vandenhoeck &
NINETEENTH CENTURY
131
Ruprecht, DM78), are either leaders or practitioners of the project, one inevitably
approaches this particular exercise with some caution. Meanwhile, a comparable enterprise for the Habsburg territories continues apace with the appearance of H. Stekl
(ed.), Bürgerliche Familien. Lebenswege im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert (Vienna, Böhlau,
DM78), which centres on the patterns of mobility, occupations, mentalities and behaviour of seven families in Austria, Hungary and Slovenia, and, secondly, P. Urbanitsch
& H. Stekl (eds), Kleinstadtbürgertum in der Habsburgermonarchie 1862–1914
(Vienna, Böhlau, DM98), where the emphasis is on the structures of middle-class
political leadership in some smaller towns in the western half of the Dual Monarchy
and on how these adapted to the modernisation of party politics and urban lifestyles.
In the context of this ongoing research into the bourgeoisie of the German-speaking
lands it is significant to note some recent efforts to explain the capacity for cohesion
and renewal of the German aristocracy, rather than seeing it purely as the fateful obstacle to a triumphant bourgeoisie. The resulting hypothesis, an aristocratic project within
bourgeois society, is ably explored by the editor in his introduction to H. Reif (ed.),
Adel und Bürgertum in Deutschland (Berlin, Akademie, DM98), and will surely stimulate further work of this sort. Also of significance here are the essays in A. Hartmann
et al. (eds), Eliten um 1800: Erfahrungshorizonte, Verhaltensweisen, Handlungsmöglichkeiten (Mainz, von Zabern, DM88), which succeed above all in seeing the German
elites at the turn of the nineteenth century in a genuinely comparative light. The now
well-established tradition of understanding the emerging middle-class elites through
the close study of a particular family continues in the shape of the history of a textile
family by U. Soénius, Wirtschaftsbürgertum im 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhundert. Die
Familie Scheidt in Kettwig 1814–1925 (Cologne, Selbstverlag Stiftung RheinlandWestfälisches Wirtschaftsarchiv, DM58), although here too significant attention is paid
to education, values, cultural norms and to the maintenance of family discipline. Like
previous examples of the genre, this is another book where the author’s immersion into
a the rich family sources has triumphed over reasonable expectations of economy and
synthesis. Genuinely more pioneering in both subject-matter and argumentation is
R. Pröve, Stadtgemeindlicher Republikanismus und die ‘Macht des Volkes’: Civile
Ordnungsformationen und kommunale Leitbilder politischer Partizipation in den
deutschen Staaten vom Ende des 18. bis zur Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts (Göttingen,
Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, DM116), who analyses the significance for the development
of early bourgeois liberalism of the militias raised in German towns during the Napoleonic wars and in the revolutionary turmoil of 1830 and 1848/9. He demonstrates how
integral were ideas of a popular militia to a developing and flexible communal republicanism with which both reforming state bureaucracies and new urban social groups
had to contend; in the process he undermines many received assumptions about an
increasingly ossified lower middle-class in the first half of the century. Also worthy of
mention here is V. Fischer, Stadt und Bürgertum in Kurhessen: Kommunalreform und
Wandel der städtischen Gesellschaft 1814–1848 (Kassel, 2000, Verein f. Hessische
Geschichte and Landeskunde).
Our understanding of the Lower Silesian city of Breslau (Wroclaw) is significantly
enriched by the prize-winning study of T. van Rahden, Juden und andere Breslauer:
Die Beziehungen zwischen Juden, Protestanten und Katholiken in einer deutschen
Grossstadt von 1860 bis 1925 (Göttingen, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, DM78). By
examining the social structure of Jews, Protestants and Catholics, associational life,
marriage patterns, schooling and municipal politics the author is able to argue that
there was a growing level of Jewish integration into Breslau society, and by adopting
a multi-cultural perspective, that relations between Jews and others were not, for
example, inordinately determined by antisemitism. The undoubted importance of these
findings notwithstanding, many will ask how representative this city might have been.
Both H. Pötsch, Antisemitismus in der Region. Antisemitische Erscheinungsformen
in Sächsen, Hessen, Hessen-Nassau und Braunschweig 1870–1914 (Wiesbaden,
132
Kommission f. die Gesch. der Juden in Hessen, DM48), and, from a different perspective, the essays on Catholic anti-Jewish sentiment in many parts of Europe edited by
O. Blaschke & A. Mattoli, Katholischer Antisemitismus im 19. Jahrhundert. Ursachen
und Traditionen im internationalen Vergleich (Zurich, Orell Füssli), might suggest
otherwise. So too does P. Panayi, Ethnic Minorities in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Germany. Jews, Gypsies, Poles, Turks and Others (Harlow, Pearson, £17.99), who
argues that all of the different types of states in Germany since 1800 have displayed a
continuity of intolerance towards ethnic minorities, whether they be dispersed Jews
and Gypsies, localised minorities such as Serbs, Poles and Danes, or the immigrants
who began to enter Germany in the 1880s. But Panayi’s resolute empiricism is less
persuasive on many of these issues, for example, than the carefully crafted research
offered by van Rahden, whose approach is also in tune with recent emphasis on the
need to see relations between Germans and Jews in the context of relations between
Germans of different faiths, as discussed by O. Blaschke, ‘Das neunzehnte Jahrhundert: Ein zwites konfessionelles Zeitalter?’ (Gesch. und Gesellschaft, 26). Here Blaschke tries to break away from the tradition of ecclesiastical history of the sort still
represented by M. Jung, Der Protestantismus in Deutschland von 1815 bis 1870 (Leipzig, Evangelische Verlagsanstalt) and point us towards the type of research very helpfully reviewed by O. Heilbronner, ‘From Ghetto to Ghetto: The Place of German
Catholic Society in Recent Historiography’ (J. Mod. Hist., 72), and exemplified by the
article of M. Gross, ‘The Strange Case of the Nun in the Dungeon, or German Liberalism as a Convent Atrocity Story’ (German Studs. R., 23), who examines lurid
convent atrocity stories, popular in liberal newspapers, in which unsuspecting young
women were lured into convents and subjected to brutal sexual exploitation that led
invariably to madness, murder or suicide. He goes on to suggest that the body of the
sexually abused and imprisoned nun was a metaphor for liberalism’s conflict with the
Catholic Church. In somewhat similar vein is W. Heinrichs, Das Judenbild im Protestantismus des Deutschen Kaiserreichs: Ein Beitrag zur Mentalitätsgeschichte des deutschen Bürgertums in der Krise der Moderne (Cologne, Rheinland-Verlag, DM58), who
usefully applies Volkov’s oft-cited view of German antisemitism as a ‘cultural code’ to
the varied periodical literature of the different strains of German Protestantism, including journals directed towards the clergy as well as those to parishioners; he reveals that
certain stereotypes remained constant elements of the bourgeois mentality irrespective,
say, of changes in the German economy. His findings are reinforced by those of M.
Haibl, Zerrbild als Stereotyp: Visuelle Darstellungen von Juden zwischen 1850 und
1900. Dokumente, Texte, Materialien (Berlin, Metropol, 1999), who charts how, in the
second half of the century, illustrators began portraying Jews in cartoons and caricatures and how quickly these negative and stereotypical images were reproduced in the
illustrated magazines and broad-sheets of the period. That such stereotypes reinforced
the difficulties faced by Jews as they sought, in an era of secularisation and emerging
antisemitism, to forge their own identity within German society, is capably shown by
K. Pickus, Constructing Modern Identities: Jewish University Students in Germany
1815–1914 (Detroit, Wayne State U.P., 1999, $29.95). Relevant here is A. Brämer,
Judentum und religiöse Reform: Der Hamburger Israelitischer Tempel 1817–1938
(Hamburg, Döllin and Galitz).
A conscious attempt to use our knowledge of the German bourgeoisie to broaden
the history of enterprises and their role in public life is made, with largely successful
results, by B. Wolbring, Krupp und die Öffentlichkeit im 19. Jahrhundert: Selbstdarstellung, offentliche Wahrnehmung und gesellschaftliche Kommunikation (Munich,
Beck, DM88). This must be read alongside the splendid portrayal of the growth of the
Krupp industrial empire by L. Gall, Krupp: Der Aufstieg eines Industrieeimperiums
(Berlin, Siedler, DM49.90), who undermines many of the more melodramatic portrayals of this firm or misplaced assumptions about its dependence on governmental
contracts, while recognising how it became, in effect, one of the pillars of the new
NINETEENTH CENTURY
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nation-state, particularly under the guidance of Alfred Krupp, whom Gall likens to one
of his previous subjects, Bismarck, as another conservative revolutionary. More traditional in their approach to German technological advances are the detailed monographs
on the Saxon textile industry by C. Frilling, Studien zu Technikgenese und Technikfolgen
im Kontext der industriellen Revolution und am Beispiel des Textilgewerbes im
säschsischen Vogtland (Langenfeld, Dietrich), and on road-building by U. Müller,
Infrastrukturpolitik in der Industrialisierung. Der Chaussebau in der preussischen
Provinz Sachsen und dem Herzogtum Braunschweig vom Ende des 18. Jahrnhunderst
bis in die siebziger Jahre des 19. Jahrhunderts (Berlin: Duncker and Humblot, DM138).
The regional perspectives to the forefront in these works complement the the central
theme of the synthesis by H. Kiesewitter, Region und Industrie in Europa 1815–1995
(Stuttgart, Steiner), but will probably have less influence on the future historiography
of Germany’s industrial revolution than the impressive dissertation by R. Banken,
Die Industrialisierung der Saarregion 1815–1914, Band 1: Die Frühindustrialisierung
1815–1850 (Stuttgart, Steiner, DM148), a critical contribution on a region of Germany
hitherto widely neglected by economic historians. An essential accompaniment is a
lengthy survey by P. Burg, Saarbrücken 1789–1860: Von der Residenzstadt bis zum
Industriezentrum (Blieskastel, Gollenstein), of how the changes in the Saar transformed its principal city. Luddite and comparable reactions to technological innovation
have been widely studied in Britain; this is not the case for the less frequent outbreaks
of machine-breaking in Germany, so the notion that this violence was neither an irrational action against the march of progress nor the early manifestations of a proletarian
consciousness, as demonstrated clearly and succinctly by M. Spehr, Maschinensturm.
Protest und Widerstand gegen technische Neuerungen am Anfang der Industrialisierung (Münster, Westf. Dampfboot, DM48), will appear more ground-breaking to
German historians than perhaps it should, well-grounded though the argument is.
Direct contrasts between the English and German experiences are made by a team of
international scholars in J. Vögele and W. Wolk (eds), Stadt, Krankheit und Tod: Geschichte der städtischen Geseundheitsverhältnisse während der Epidemiogischen Transition, vom 18. bis ins frühe 20. Jahrhundert (Berlin, Duncker, DM104), who explore
how far there were common factors to explain the rapid improvments in urban mortality
in the later nineteenth century. Another comparative study, this time on the different
ways in which tuberculosis began to be tackled in England and Germany, by F. Condrau,
Lungenheilanstalt und Patientenschicksal: Sozialgeschichte der Tuberkulose in Deutschland und England im späten 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhundert (Göttingen, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, DM78), illustrates the way in which the study of the history of
medicine in Germany is beginning to come closer to the way it is undertaken here. To
be noted in this context is the more specialised monograph by S. Hähner-Rombach,
Sozialgeschichte der Tuberkulose. Vom Kaiserreich bis zum Ende des Zweiten
Weltkriegs unter besonderer Berücksichtigung Württembergs (Stuttgart, Steiner,
DM136). From the same publisher comes a detailed investigation by L. Sauerteig,
Krankheit, Sexualitat, Geselleschaft: Geschlechtskrankheiten und Gesundheitspolitik in
Deutschland im 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhundert (Stuttgart, 1999, Steiner, DM168), into
the controversies which emerged at the end of the century about sexually-transmitted
diseases, as the state, medical practitioners and moralists expressed growing concern
at the threats posed by syphilis and debated how they might be countered. Such an
environment helps partly to explain the attitudes revealed by A. Lees, ‘Deviant Sexuality and Other “Sins”: The Views of Protestant Conservatives in Imperial Germany’
(German Studs R., 23). Meanwhile, the attempts by the fledgling psychiatric profession
to win prestige by becoming incorporated into military institutions, and the way these
institutions wanted to deploy new techniques to aid recruitment and discipline, are
carefully and skilfully diagnosed by M. Lengweiler, Zwischen Klinik und Kaserne.
Die Geschichte der Militärpsychiatrie in Deutschland und der Schweiz 1871–1914
(Zurich, Chronos). In line with much of this newer work on the professionalisation
134
of medicine and on the constructions of disease and illness is G. Eghigian, Making
Social Security Social: Disability, Insurance and the Birth of the Social Entitlement
State (Ann Arbor, U. Michigan P., $59.50). Instead of the more conventional history
and politics of Bismarck’s schemes for accident and disability insurance here is an
explicit analysis of the culture and operation of social insurance, as experienced by
administrators, claimants, doctors, the state, trade unions and the insurance courts,
and which involved complex and overlapping conflicts over, for example, the meaning of disability itself. Also representative of this trend is the article by T. Hommen,
‘Körperdefinition und Körpererfahrung. “Notzucht” und unzüchtige Handlungen an
Kindern im Kaiserreich’, (Gesch. und Gesellschaft, 26). Much more straightforward
in its treatment of German officialdom is the narrow but informative work by on
women civil servants in the country’s most liberal state by G. Kling, Frauen im
öffentlichen Dienst des Grossherzogtums Baden. Von den Anfängen bis zum Ersten
Weltkrieg (Stuttgart, Kohlhammer, DM48.90).
Italy and Spain The key text is J. Davis (ed.), Italy in the Nineteenth Century (OUP,
£14.99), one of ‘The Short Oxford History of Italy’ series. The 9 essays by British and
American specialists set Italian unification and the creation of an independent Italian
state in the broader context of nineteenth-century European history. Challenging the
view that the political failings of the Risorgimento and Italy’s economic and social
backwardness paved the way for fascism in the twentieth century, the contributors stress
how similar Italy’s social and political development was to that of other modernising
European states in the same period. Such interpretations are increasingly reinforced
by more systematic comparisons between Italy and Germany, such as the collection of
O. Janz et al. (eds), Zentralismus und Föderalismus im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert.
Deutschland und Italien im Vergelich (Berlin, Duncker, DM128). Also interesting in
this respect is how Germans at the time viewed trends in mid-century Italy; they are
the subject of a set of essays by A. Esch and J. Petersen (eds), Deutsches Ottocento.
Die deutsche Wahrnehmung Italiens im Risorgimento (Tubingen, Niemeyer, DM104).
Also attempting to overturn more convnetional understanding is J. Dickie, Darkest
Italy (Macmillan, 1999), who analyses the stereotypical representations of the Mezzogiorno, a persistent feature of Italian culture at all levels, in the era after unification. In
these years the Mezzogiornio was widely seen as barbaric and violent or irrational, an
‘Africa’ in Europe; simultaneously it became an index of Italy’s modernity. Dickie
argues that these stereotypes, rather than being a symptom of the failings of national
identity in Italy, were actually integral to the way Italy’s bourgeoisie imagined themselves as Italian.
One should not expect great analytical sophistication from C. Ross, Spain 1812–
1996 (Arnold, £12.99) since it is written explicitly for students taking Spanish language degrees. Essentially chronological in approach, and setting modern Spain into a
wider European context, it focuses on the main events in political history, and only
touches briefly on major socio-economic themes. By contrast one notes the diversity
and thematic rigour of many of the twenty or so essays in J. Harrison and A. Hoyle
(eds), Spain’s 1898 crisis. Regenerationism, modernism, postcolonialism (Manchester
U.P., £42.50), a volume which examines the significance of probably the most famous
year in modern Spanish culture, when the nation was forced to relinquish the surviving
remnants of its once great empire. The contributors concentrate on the resulting crisis
of Spanish identity, the generation of writers who responded to it and the gap which
the disaster in Cuba exposed between tradition and modernity. Meanwhile R. Earle,
Spain and the Independence of Colombia (University of Exeter Press, £37.50) reminds
us that the wave of revolution in Latin America between 1805 and 1825 had already
destroyed much of that Spanish empire: her study carefully charts the process of imperial collapse in one of these Spanish colonies, namely the Viceroyalty of New Granada,
the future Republic of Colombia. Such developments were among the factors which
NINETEENTH CENTURY
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generated forces such as Carlism, whose history has been significantly enriched by the
appearance of the study by J. Canal, El Carlismo. Dos siglos de contrarevolución en
España (Madrid, Alianza Editorial). M. Flynn, Ideology, Mobilization and the Nation
(Palgrave, £50.00) is one of the first systematically to examine Carlist nationalism not
just alongside its Basque counterpart but also nineteenth-century nationalist politics in
Ireland. The growing interest of European scholars in Spain and its complex history of
nationhood and identity is also reflected in the article by L. Mees, ‘Der Spanische
“Sonderweg”: Staat und Nationen im Spanien des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts’ (Archiv
für Sozialgesch., 40). Contributing further to this debate is an exploration of the interaction between liberal politics and the emergence of a distinctive Catalan identity in
mid-century by L. Fradera, ‘La Politica Liberal y el Descubrimento de una identidad
distintiva de Cataluña (1835–1865)’ (Hispania, 105), who concentrates on the appearance of an embryonic provincial patriotism and its relationship to wider notions of
Spanish patriotism in the period. In the same journal G. Urdáñez, ‘Progresismo y
poder político en la España Isabelina: el gobierno de Olózaga a finales de 1843’ revisits the formation of the Olózaga government and its fall in 1843 as a means by
which to examine further our understanding of Spanish progressivism in the ‘moderate
decade’. Although much of the focus of the new synthesis by W. Callahan, The Catholic
Church in Spain, 1875–1998 (Catholic U. of America P., £42.50), is on the twentieth
century and the Church’s role in the Civil War and under Franco, the author indicates
how we should go back in to the previous century to understand the Church’s failure
to recreate the Catholic Spain of a vanished golden age, particularly once its vision of
a Spain forever Catholic was challenged by the forces of liberalism, republicanism,
socialism and intellectual pluralism. C. Teixidor, ‘Los límites de la acción en la España
del siglo XIX asistencia y salud pública en las orígenes del Estado Liberal’ (Hispania,
205), studies the first welfare legislation in Spain enacted after the system of poor
relief by the Church was abandoned, and reveals the divisions within Spanish liberalism occasioned by the acts of 1849 and 1855. The distinctive features of the Spanish
tobacco trades – their dependence on the state, their monopolistic character and the
role of female labour – had a significant impact on political mobilisation in the industry, so argues F. Del Rey Reguillo, ‘La industria tabaquera española (1887–1939)’
(Hispania, 206). Another branch of Spanish trade and industry is analysed by J. Valdaliso,
‘The Rise of Specialist Firms in Spanish Shipping and Their Strategies of Growth,
1860–1930’ (Business Hist. Rev., 74). Important arguments about Spanish industrialisation and modernity are raised by B. Sanchez-Alonso, ‘European emigration in the
late nineteenth century: the paradoxical case of Spain’ (Econ. H. Rev., 53).
Scandinavia Sweden was visited and toured in this period by a number of British
author-travellers. M. Davies, A Perambulating Paradox. British Travel Literature and
the Image of Sweden ca 1770 –1865 ( Lund, 2000) suggests these writers gradually replicated an image of Sweden that resembled in many respects the way Europe defined
the ‘Orient’ and Africa in this period; Sweden was projected both as reprehensibly
underdeveloped in comparison to Britain and as an Arcadian idyll, free of the problems engendered by a ruthless capitalism. One of the factors behind the changes which
did take place in rural Sweden is assessed by A Nilson et al. ‘Agrarian transition and
literacy: The case of nineteenth-century Sweden’ (Europ. Rev. Econ. H., 3, 1999). The
year is marked by two significant studies of women. The first is a set of essays by
P. Markkola (ed.), Gender and Vocation: Women, Religion and Social Change in the
Nordic Countries, 1830–1940 (Helsinki); the editor contributes both an introductory
essay on the Lutheran context of Nordic women’s history and one on gender, women
and social reform in Finland, while among the other pieces are ones on the emancipation debate in Sweden, women’s place in the Norwegian missionary movement and
Lützen’s study of the cult of domesticity in Danish women’s philanthrophy. The second
is Y. Svanström, Policing Public Women. The Regulation of Prostitution in Stockholm
136
1812–1880 (Stockholm, Atlas Akademi), who charts how Stockholm, and Sweden as
a whole, went from a non-gendered to a gendered control of venereal disease. This
eventually developed into a ‘spatial’ control of public women, who, in the wake of the
professionalisation of groups such as the police and physicians, became perceived
as a group of professional prostitutes. One feature of the demographic history of
the Swedish capital is traced by S. Hedenborg, ‘The World is Full of Sorrow: Infant
Mortality in Stockholm, 1754–1850’ (Scandinavian Econ. H. Rev. 48).

VIII Nineteenth Century

Transcription

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