ISBN: Ostalo
Godina izdanja: 1978
Jezik: Engleski
Autor: Strani

U dobrom stanju, zaštitni omot lošiji.

English Social History: A Survey of Six Centuries, Chaucer to Queen Victoria

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Longmans (13 Nov. 1978)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 628 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 058248488X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0582484887
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 25.3 x 3.5 x 19.5 cm

ENGLISH SOCIAL HISTORY
By G. M. TREVELYAN

`In this masterly portrayal of the dally life of our ancestors it is difficult to know which to admire more, the immensity of the learning, the charm of the style which adorns it, or the intimacy with all things human which illumines every page.

If the Master of Trinity had written nothing else, this work alone would rank him among me foremost British historians of any age.

With a vividness akin to poetry we are shown century by century the ever-shifting pageant of the English life and scenes.”
-Daily Telegraph

Thegeneral reader will enjoy in this book an account of the daily life of his ancestors, generation by generation, presented in a series of tableaux. Their houses, their clothes, their food and drink, their incomes, their agricultural and industrial habits, their recreation, their credulities, their angers and their benevolences—never before has a panorama been painted at once so vast and so detailed.

This is a new standard work and one of the most enthralling books written in our time.”
-New Statesman & Nation

“A history which is also literature . . . will probably be Everyman’s standard social history of England for a long time to come... should open our eyes not only to the past, but to what is now before us.”
-Times Literary Supp.


G.M. Trevelyan - English Social History

George Macaulay Trevelyan`s English Social History is a classic work. Finished in the years leading up to World War Two it reflects the time in which it was written. By its very nature it is a sweeping history, so sometimes it misses detail in favour of general statements and broad assessments.

While it is a social history, it is not socialist history, nor even history from below. By social, Trevelyan seems to mean anything that effects the broadest social structure and practice of everyday life. This means he is as happy to talk about kings and queens, as he is about ploughmen and factory workers. One of the weaknesses though, is that Trevelyan concentrates on the former at the expense of the later. The reader will quickly note that many chapters are named after the era of particular great men.


Trevelyan sums up his approach in the introduction:

`The Puritan Revolution and the Restoration were social as well as political events. But, on the whole, social change moves like an underground river, obeying its own laws or those of economic change, rather than following the direction of political happenings that move on the surface of life. Politics are the outcome rather than the cause of social change. A new king, a new Prime Minster, a new Parliament often marks a new epoch in politics, but seldom in the life of the people.`

Unfortunately this is, to my mind, a completely inadequate approach. Seldom do new PMs, or Parliament mark new epochs in British History, and social change has its own laws, but is completely linked to the politics and economics of the time. Trevelyan here, and elsewhere in the book, implies that social change occurs gradually, and in fact he frequently suggests that England is unique for not suffering the convulsive change that marked some countries. Indeed, without any tongue in check, Trevelyan claims that

`Village cricket spread fast through the land. In those days before it became scientific, cricket was the best game in the world to watch, with its rapid sequence of amusing incidents, each ball a potential crisis! Squire, farmer, blacksmith and labourer with their women and children came to see the fun, were at ease together and happy all the summer afternoon. If the French noblesse had been capable of playing cricket with their peasants, their chateaux would never have been burnt.`

Such sweeping (and ridiculous) claims would, it seem, at first to mean that this book has no value to the student of history. But I would suggest the opposite. Firstly, while Trevelyan reflects the opinions of a particular class he is also an extremely knowledgeable, readable and entertaining writer. The book is filled with figures, poetry and source material that will help the reader get an excellent over-view of English history and its key periods.

But this aside, the reader of English Social History is constantly reminded of Trevelyan`s main thesis. For the author English history has been one of a long, gradual development until the 20th century. And the pinnacle of this history was threatened by German Fascism. While Trevelyan is too honest a historian to pretend that there haven`t been periods when ordinary people have been poor, or the ruling class engaged in repression, the general historical trend has been one of progress and economic improvement. This is Trevelyan suggests because it just wouldn`t be English to do anything else.