The English Urban Renaissance: Culture and Society in the Provincial Town 1660-1770 New edition
Author(s): Peter Borsay (Author)
Publisher: Clarendon Press
Publication Date: June 13, 1991
Edition: New edition
Language: English
Print length: 438 pages
ISBN-10: 0198202555
ISBN-13: 9780198202554
Book Description
In the century after the Restoration of 1660, English provincial towns experienced a cultural renaissance. This book offers a guide to the most striking features of that revival: the transformation of the urban landscape under the influence of classical architecture and the emergent forces of planning, and a remarkable expansion in the provision of fashionable public leisure. Drawing on a variety of disciplines, including architecture, music, historical geography, English literature, urban studies and history, the book concentrates on the interaction between urban culture and society as a whole. It sheds new light not only on the development of the early modern town, but also on the relatively neglected history of England between the Civil War and the Industrial Revolution.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“A major work….’Borsay’ as the work will be known, should be read by anyone interested in English society or English towns on the eve of industrialization. It shows that an important book can also be a ‘good read,’…Will no doubt become a standard text for undergraduates.”–Albion
“By reinterpreting the causes and achievements of the consumer revolution…should influence historiographic fashion for a long time.”–Journal of British Studies
“Based on extensive use of unexploited manuscript and printed sources, this book at once illuminates many aspects of Georgian England and offers an approach that urban historians might usefully apply to other periods.”–American Historical Review
“Packed with interesting detail.”–CHOICE
“This is an important book…for all readers interested in the relationship between community formation and cultural expression. Peter Borsay succeeds in bringing the changing urban landscape to life.”–Carl Estabrook, Dartmouth College
From the Back Cover
In the century after the Restoration of 1660, English provincial towns experienced a cultural renaissance. This book offers a guide to the transformation of the urban landscape and the remarkable expansion in the provision of fashionable public leisure. Peter Borsay penetrates behind the new culture’s elegant facade to explore its economic origins and the mixture of social forces which stimulated it: wealth, self-interest, idealism, and snobbery.
About the Author
Peter Borsay, Senior Lecturer in History, St David’s University College, Lampeter.
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