The Mid-Victorian Generation, 1846-1886

Book excerpt: This third volume in the New Oxford History of England covers the period from the repeal of the Corn Laws to the dramatic failure of Gladstone's first Home Rule Bill. In his magisterial study of the mid-Victorian generation, Theodore Hoppen identifies three defining themes: "established industrialism"--the growing acceptance that factory life and manufacturing had come to stay; "multiple national identities" of the constituent parts of the United Kingdom; and "interlocking spheres," which the author uses to illuminate the formation of public culture in the period. This original and authoritative book will define these pivotal forty years in British history for the next generation.