This is the first major study of the diverse personalities, achievements, and tactics of British feminist leaders of the 1920s and 1930s. Presenting sketches of sixteen prominent but very different feminists, the author examines the breadth and scale of their activities, explains the organizational context and ancestry of feminism between the wars, and underlines the achievements of the feminist movement in advancing women's political, occupational, and family roles at home and abroad. Highlighting the lives of the first generation of voting women in Britain, Prudent Revolutionaries provides an insightful composite portrait of the reforming personality, and of the tactical and strategic dilemmas the reformers faced when trying to operate democratic institutions within a hostile climate.

Prudent Revolutionaries: Portraits of British Feminists between the Wars

Biographies & Memoirs

Harrison, Brian

Community & Culture

Clarendon Press

In this, the first of two self-standing volumes bringing The New Oxford History of England up to the present, Brian Harrison begins in 1951 with much of the empire intact and with Britain enjoying high prestige in Europe. The United Kingdom could still then claim to be a great power, whose welfare state exemplified compromise between Soviet planning and the USA's free market. When the volume ends in 1970, no such claims carried conviction. The empire had gone, central planning was in trouble, and even the British political system had become controversial.   In an unusually wide-ranging, yet impressively detailed volume, Harrison approaches the period from unfamiliar directions. He explains how British politicians in the 1950s and 1960s responded to this transition by pursuing successive roles for Britain: worldwide as champion of freedom, and in Europe as exemplar of parliamentary government, the multi-racial society, and economic planning. His main focus, though, rests not on the politicians but on the decisions the British people made largely for themselves: on their environment, social structure and attitudes, race relations, family patterns, economic framework, and cultural opportunities. By 1970 the consumer society had supplanted postwar austerity, the socialist vision was fading, and "the sixties" (the theme of his penultimate chapter) had introduced new and even exotic themes and values. Having lost an empire, Britain was still resourcefully seeking a role: it had yet to find it.

Seeking a Role: The United Kingdom 1951-1970 (New Oxford History of England)

History

Europe

Oxford University Press

The British political system, though often criticized, has been the model and the inspiration for many national governments world-wide. It is the center of controversial debate within Britain itself. Yet over the 130 years since Bagehot wrote his English Constitution, no historian has investigated in depth how it has evolved in all its dimensions, and few political scientists have looked further back than the Second World War. This is the first book to provide a detailed explanation of how the British political syustem came to acquire the form it has today.

The Transformation of British Politics 1860-1995

The British political system has been the model and the inspiration for many national governments world-wide. Yet it is now at the centre of controversial debate within Britain itself. Over the 130 years since Bagehot wrote his English Constitution, no historian has investigated in depth how it has evolved in all its dimensions, and few political scientists have looked further back than the Second World War. This is the first book to provide a detailed explanation of how the British political system came to acquire the form it has today. Brian Harrison's broad-ranging, authoritative analysis runs continuously from the 1860s to the 1990s. He investigates such topics as civil liberties, pressure groups, parliament, elections and the parties, central and local government, cabinet, and monarchy. He examines the international and cultural influences on the working of the political system, and concludes by surveying current proposals for reform. With an ample guide to further reading, and a full chronology of leading events, this book will be essential reading for students of politics and history.

Politics & Social Sciences

Politics & Government

Finding a Role?: The United Kingdom 1970-1990 (New Oxford History of England)

In 1970 the 'cold war' was still cold, Northern Ireland's troubles were escalating, the UK's relations with the EEC were unclear, and corporatist approaches to the economy precariously persisted. By 1990 Communism was crumbling world-wide, Thatcher's economic revolution had occurred, terrorism in Northern Ireland was waning, 'multi-culturalism' was in place, family structures were changing fast, and British political institutions had become controversial. Seven analytic chapters pursue these changes and accumulate rich detail on changes in international relations, landscape and townscape, social framework, family and welfare structures, economic policies and realities, intellect and culture, politics and government. The concluding chapter ranges chronologically even more widely to bring out the interaction of past and present, then asks how far the UK had by 1990 identified its world role. Like Harrison's Seeking a Role: The United Kingdom 1951-1970 (2009) - the immediately preceding volume in this series - Finding a Role? includes a full chronological table and an ample index of names and themes. This, the first thorough, wide-ranging, and synoptic study of the UK so far published on this period, has two overriding aims: to show how British institutions evolved, but also to illuminate changes in the British people: their hopes and fears, values and enjoyments, failures and achievements. It therefore equips its readers to understand events since 1990, and so to decide for themselves where the UK should now be going.

In this, the first of two self-standing volumes bringing The New Oxford History of England up to the present, Brian Harrison begins in 1951 with much of the empire intact and Britain enjoying high prestige in Europe. The United Kingdom could still then claim to be a great power whose welfare state exemplified compromise between Soviet planning and the USA's free market. When the volume ends in 1970, no such claims carried conviction. The empire had gone, central planning was in trouble, and even the British political system had become controversial. In an unusually wide-ranging, yet impressively detailed volume, Harrison approaches the period from unfamiliar directions. He explains how British politicians in the 1950s and 1960s responded to this transition by pursuing successive roles for Britain: worldwide as champion of freedom, and in Europe as exemplar of parliamentary government, the multi-racial society, and economic planning. His main focus, though, rests not on the politicians but on the decisions the British people made largely for themselves: on their environment, social structure and attitudes, race relations, family patterns, economic framework, and cultural opportunities. By 1970 the consumer society had supplanted postwar austerity, the socialist vision was fading, and 'the sixties' (the theme of his penultimate chapter) had introduced new and even exotic themes and values. Having lost an empire, Britain was still resourcefully seeking a role: it had yet to find it.

Seeking a Role: The United Kingdom, 1951-1970 (New Oxford History of England)

In 1970 the 'cold war' was still cold, Northern Ireland's troubles were escalating, the UK's relations with the EEC were unclear, and corporatist approaches to the economy precariously persisted. By 1990 Communism was crumbling world-wide, Thatcher's economic revolution had occurred, terrorism in Northern Ireland was waning, 'multi-culturalism' was in place, family structures were changing fast, and British political institutions had become controversial. Seven analytic chapters pursue these changes and accumulate rich detail on changes in international relations, landscape and townscape, social framework, family and welfare structures, economic policies and realities, intellect and culture, politics and government. The concluding chapter ranges chronologically even more widely to bring out the interaction of past and present, then asks how far the UK had by 1990 identified its world role. Like Harrison's Seeking a Role: The United Kingdom 1951-1970 (2009) - the immediately preceding volume in this series - Finding a Role? includes a full chronological table and an ample index of names and themes. This, the first thorough, wide-ranging, and synoptic study of the UK so far published on this period, has two overriding aims: to show how British institutions evolved, but also to illuminate changes in the British people: their hopes and fears, values and enjoyments, failures and achievements. It therefore equips its readers to understand events since 1990, and so to decide for themselves where the UK should now be going.

Separate Spheres

The British feminist movement has often been studied, but so far nobody has written about its opponents. Dr Harrison argues that British feminism cannot be understood without appreciating the strength and even the contemporary plausibility of ‘the Antis’, as the opponents of women’s suffrage were called. In a fully documented approach which combines political with social history, he unravels the complex politics, medical, diplomatic and social components of the anti-suffrage mind, and clarifies the Antis’ central commitment to the idea of separate but complementary spheres for the two sexes. Dr Harrison then analyses the history of organised anti-suffragism between 1908 and 1918, and argues that anti-suffragism is important for shedding light on the Edwardian feminists. The Antis also introduce us to important Victorian and Edwardian attitudes which are often forgotten and which differ markedly from the attitudes to women which are now familiar; on the other hand, his concluding chapter – which surveys the period from 1918 to 1978 – claims that many of these attitudes, though less frequently voiced in public, still influence present-day conduct. His book, published originally in 1978, therefore makes an important contribution towards the history of the British women’s movement and towards understanding Britain in the nineteenth- and twentieth-centuries.

Separate Spheres: The Opposition to Women's Suffrage in Britain

Reference

Routledge

The British feminist movement has often been studied, but so far nobody has written about its opponents. Dr Harrison argues that British feminism cannot be understood without appreciating the strength and even the contemporary plausibility of ‘the Antis’, as the opponents of women’s suffrage were called. In a fully documented approach which combines political with social history, he unravels the complex politics, medical, diplomatic and social components of the anti-suffrage mind, and clarifies the Antis’ central commitment to the idea of separate but complementary spheres for the two sexes. Dr Harrison then analyses the history of organised anti-suffragism between 1908 and 1918, and argues that anti-suffragism is important for shedding light on the Edwardian feminists. The Antis also introduce us to important Victorian and Edwardian attitudes which are often forgotten and which differ markedly from the attitudes to women which are now familiar; on the other hand, his concluding chapter – which surveys the period from 1918 to 1978 – claims that many of these attitudes, though less frequently voiced in public, still influence present-day conduct. His book, published originally in 1978, therefore makes an important contribution towards the history of the British women’s movement and towards understanding Britain in the nineteenth- and twentieth-centuries.

Wolff's Law: A Memoir

With the outlandish odds of losing two partners to disease, it takes everything to overcome life's hardships--from a rebellious teen to a broken adult.

Parenting & Relationships

Brian Harrison

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Harrison, Brian. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Harrison, Brian

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Harrison, Brian. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Prudent Revolutionaries: Portraits of British Feminists between the Wars

Seeking a Role: The United Kingdom 1951-1970 (New Oxford History of England)

The Transformation of British Politics 1860-1995

The Transformation of British Politics 1860-1995

Finding a Role?: The United Kingdom 1970-1990 (New Oxford History of England)

Seeking a Role: The United Kingdom, 1951-1970 (New Oxford History of England)

Finding a Role?: The United Kingdom 1970-1990 (New Oxford History of England)

Separate Spheres: The Opposition to Women's Suffrage in Britain

Separate Spheres

Wolff's Law: A Memoir