Synopses & Reviews
A Nation Transformed highlights the ways in which England was transformed during the second half of the seventeenth century. In sharp contrast to those who have emphasized continuity and the persistence of the ancien régime, the contributors argue that England in 1700 was profoundly different from what it had been in 1640. Essays in the volume deal with changes in natural philosophy, literature, religion, politics, political thought, and political economy, each illuminating the ways in which early modern England became one of the first modern societies.
Table of Contents
Introduction: modernity and later seventeenth-century England Alan Houston and Steve Pincus; 1. The question of secularisation Blair Worden; 2. 'Meer religion' and the 'church-state' of Restoration England: the impact and ideology of James II's Declarations of indulgence Mark Knights; 3. Radicals, reformers and republicans: academic language and political discourse in Restoration London Gary DeKrey; 4. The family in the Exclusion Crisis: Locke vs. Filmer revisited Rachel Weil; 5. Understanding popular politics in Restoration Britain Tim Harris; 6. The war in heaven and the Miltonic sublime Nicholas von Maltzahn; 7. The Cowleyan Pindaric ode and sublime diversions Joshua Scodel; 8. Plays as property, 1660-1710 Paulina Kewes; 9. Republicanism, the politics of necessity, and the rule of law Alan Houston; 10. From holy cause to economic interest: the transformation of reason of state thinking in seventeenth-century England Steve Pincus; 11. Natural philosophy and political periodisation: interregnum, restoration, and revolution Barbara Shapiro.