English Society in the Eighteenth Century

This stimulating volume examines English society at the moment of transition between the old and modern world

During this period, Britain emerged as Europe’s most progressive society. From the 1750s population began to climb sharply and economic expansion brought riches to a few and prosperity to. many in agriculture, trade and manufacture. The empire expanded overseas, and at home British artists, writers and thinkers made the world take notice. At the close of the century, while Europe was dissolving in bloodbaths of revolution and war, British society was sound enough to be giving birth to the Industrial Revolution.

Concentrating on England, but touching on Ireland, Scotland and Wales, Roy Porter makes use of wide sources which include a mass of contemporary documentation, to create an original and immediate picture of life in the eighteenth century.