Reading history in Britain and America, c.1750 - c.1840 / Mark Towsey.
Material type: TextPublisher: Cambridge ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2019Copyright date: �2019Edition: First editionDescription: 1 online resourceContent type:- text
- computer
- online resource
- 9781108591072
- 1108591078
- 9781108593793
- 1108593798
- Historiography -- Great Britain
- Historiography -- United States
- Books and reading -- Great Britain -- History -- 18th century
- Books and reading -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century
- Books and reading -- United States -- History -- 18th century
- Books and reading -- United States -- History -- 19th century
- Books and reading
- Historiography
- Great Britain
- United States
- HISTORY / Study & Teaching
- 1700-1899
- 907.2/041 23
- D13.5.G7 T69 2019
Includes bibliographical references.
History and the life cycle of the reader -- Sceptical historiography and the problem of infidelity -- Contesting constitutional history -- A nation united? histories of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales -- Rewriting the American nation -- Historical information and the management of empire.
Description based on print version record.
The period between c.1750 and c.1840 is popularly known for the rise of the novel, yet historical works by Enlightenment writers, including David Hume, Edward Gibbon and William Robertson, were some of its most commercially successful books. Moving beyond the range of previous studies that have sought to explain this success by focussing on publishers, writers and their ideas, Mark Towsey's study is the first to focus on the reading audiences themselves. Drawing on a variety of sources including marginalia, letters, diaries and commonplace books, this lively book reveals why histories were so widely read, and shows how they were used by readers across the English-speaking world to make sense of a rapid change marked by social upheaval at home and revolution abroad. In doing so, it marks a major addition to the history of reading, shedding fascinating new light on how readers interpreted books in the past.
Master record variable field(s) change: 072 - OCLC control number change
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