British Political Thought in History, Literature and Theory, 1500-1800

Description

The history of British political thought has been one of the most fertile fields of Anglo-American historical writing in the last half-century. David Armitage brings together an interdisciplinary and international team of authors to consider the impact of this scholarship on the study of early modern British history, English literature, and political theory. Leading historians survey the impact of the history of political thought on the 'new' histories of Britain and Ireland; eminent literary scholars offer novel critical methods attentive to literary form, genre, and language; and distinguished political theorists treat the relationship of history and theory in studies of rights and privacy. The outstanding examples of critical practice collected here will encourage the emergence of fresh research on the historical, critical, and theoretical study of the English-speaking world in the period around 1500-1800. This volume celebrates the contribution of the Folger Institute to British studies over many years.

David Armitage is Professor of History at Harvard University.

"J.G.A. Pocock, whos work is a constant point of reference for many of the contributors, asks at the book's beginning what it means to speak of 'British political thought' and wonders whether Britishness is a community or a conversation (11). The essays that follow give voice to the discourse between patriotism and assimilation, exposing the both-and logic of the local and the larger: both fusion and separation within and between the countires it covers and within and between the disciplines that study their cultures. Quentin Skinner concludes that 'no single set of hermeneutic principles' will ever be adequate for more than a fraction of the discourse, but that what is important is the dialogue (284). This collection of intelligently written essays presents an important instance of that dialogue." - Barbara Kreps, University of Pisa