Publisher's Synopsis
Britain 1780-1945 Reforming Society develops the ideas and chronological scope that I put forward in my earlier studies of Britain's social and economic development during the late-eighteenth, nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. The result is a new history of British society between 1780 and 1945. The volume complements Britain 1780-1945: Society under Pressure. I have radically restructured my thinking broadening my approach to make it less Anglo-centric, white and male in character. For instance, in this volume I have looked at the ways in which the Poor Law operated differently in England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland and I have also taken account of the issue of disability ignored in my earlier writings. This book begins by examining the ways in which British government was transformed and how it responded to the challenges posed by urbanisation and the problem of housing, the revolution in how people worked and the problem of the nation's health. It then moves on to look at poverty and the state and the nature of voluntary action and the development of a national system of education. It ends by considering the changing nature of crime, policing and punishment.
