Acts of Union and Disunion (Paperback)
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Based on a 15-part BBC Radio 4 series: What has held the United Kingdom together - and what is driving it apart? Includes analysis of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.
The United Kingdom; Great Britain; the British Isles; the Home Nations: such a wealth of different names implies uncertainty and contention - and an ability to invent and adjust. In a year that sees a Scottish referendum on independence, Linda Colley analyses some of the forces that have unified Britain in the past.
She examines the mythology of Britishness, and how far - and why - it has faded. She discusses the Acts of Union with Wales, Scotland and Ireland, and their limitations, while scrutinizing England's own fractures. And she demonstrates how the UK has been shaped by movement: of British people to other countries and continents, and of people, ideas and influences arriving from elsewhere.
As acts of union and disunion again become increasingly relevant to our daily lives and politics, Colley considers how - if at all - the pieces might be put together anew, and what this might mean.
Based on a 15-part BBC Radio 4 series.
Acts of Union and Disunion (Ebook)
Buy from
Based on a 15-part BBC Radio 4 series: What has held the United Kingdom together - and what is driving it apart? Includes analysis of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.
The United Kingdom; Great Britain; the British Isles; the Home Nations: such a wealth of different names implies uncertainty and contention - and an ability to invent and adjust. In a year that sees a Scottish referendum on independence, Linda Colley analyses some of the forces that have unified Britain in the past.
She examines the mythology of Britishness, and how far - and why - it has faded. She discusses the Acts of Union with Wales, Scotland and Ireland, and their limitations, while scrutinizing England's own fractures. And she demonstrates how the UK has been shaped by movement: of British people to other countries and continents, and of people, ideas and influences arriving from elsewhere.
As acts of union and disunion again become increasingly relevant to our daily lives and politics, Colley considers how - if at all - the pieces might be put together anew, and what this might mean.
Based on a 15-part BBC Radio 4 series.
Reviews for Acts of Union and Disunion
Praise for Linda Colley and for Britons: Forging the Nation 1707-1837:
'A completely original intelligence
'
Roy Foster Financial Times
Scotsman
Western Mail
Independent
Guardian
Magnus Gardham The Herald
The Economist
Yasmin Albhai-Brown The Independent
David Robinson Scotland on Sunday
Nick Cohen The Observer
Allan Massie The Scotsman
Alex Massie Daily Telegraph
Iain Finlayson The Times
Times Higher Education
South China Morning Post
Linda Colley
One of our most distinguished historians, Linda Colley is Shelby M.C.Davis 1958 Professor of History at Princeton and a Fellow of the British Academy. She has previously taught at Cambridge, Yale and LSE. Her earlier books include Wolfson Prize-winning Britons: Forging the Nation 1707-1837</i>; Captives: Britain, Empire and the World, 1600-1850 and The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh: A Woman in World History.
Acts of Union and Disunion was a 15-part BBC Radio 4 series in January 2014.