An Oxford Companion to The Romantic Age: British Culture 1776-1832
McCalman (Australian National Univ.) has assembled an international team of experts, from fields as diverse as political history, popular culture, literature, religion, and medicine, in order to create a broad reference work on the Romantic age in Britain. The first part of the book contains thematic essays grouped into four different sections. Eschewing facile generalizations about the Romantic era, the authors did not seek to develop a single unified theme; rather, they sought to treat themes under broader headings such as "Transforming Polity and Nation" and "Culture, Consumption, and the Arts." By focusing the essays in this fashion, McCalman easily manages to maintain an internal coherence among topics. The essays themselves are of high quality and reflect the latest scholarship. The second part of the book contains alphabetical entries of events, personalities, concepts, and trends in a number of subjects. Of particular interest are references to the people and institutions that make up the "radical" religious and political movements of the era, such as Thomas Spence, Joseph Brothers, and Joanna Southcott, and the various societies they joined or inspired. Aimed at a wide audience, this book is a valuable reference tool. Recommended for all public and academic libraries.-Frederic Krome, Jacob Rader Marcus Ctr. of the American Jewish Archives, CincinnatiCopyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.