The Island Race: Englishness, Empire and Gender in the Eighteenth Century / Edition 1

by Kathleen Wilson

Overview

Rooted in a period of vigorous exploration and colonialism, The Island Race: Englishness, empire and gender in the eighteenth century is an innovative study of the issues of nation, gender and identity. Wilson bases her analysis on a wide range of case studies drawn both from Britain and across the Atlantic and Pacific worlds.

Creating a colourful and original colonial landscape, she considers topics such as:

* sodomy
* theatre
* masculinity
* the symbolism of Britannia
* the role of women in war.

Wilson shows the far-reaching implications that colonial power and expansion had upon the English people's sense of self, and argues that the vaunted singularity of English culture was in fact constituted by the bodies, practices and exchanges of peoples across the globe. Theoretically rigorous and highly readable, The Island Race will become a seminal text for understanding the pressing issues that it confronts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415158961
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	10/03/2002
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	298
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Kathleen Wilson is Associate Professor of History at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She has written widely on empire and the politics of culture in eighteenth-century Britain, including The Sense of the People: Politics, Culture and Imperialism in England 1715–1785, winner of the 1995 Whitfield Prize for British History, Royal Historical Society, and the 1996 John Ben Snow Prize of the North American Conference on British Studies.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments; Abbreviations; Introduction: Nations, Empires and Identities in the Eighteenth Century; Chapter 1 Citizenship, Empire and Modernity in the English Provinces; Chapter 2 The Island Race: Captain Cook And English Ethnicity; Chapter 3 Britannia Into Battle: Women, War and Identities in England and America; Chapter 4 The Black Widow: Gender, Race and Performance in England and Jamaica; Chapter 5 Breasts, Sodomy and the Lash: Masculinity and Enlightenment Aboard the Cook Voyages; Epilogue: “Save the Stones” King Alfred and the Performance of Origins;

Editorial Reviews

'There is no doubt that this is a profound and important book.' - English Historical Review

'Kathleen Wilson's dazzling new book ... provides an invigorating, if occasionally disconcerting, escape from the tidy and complacent.' - William and Mary Quarterly

'Elegantly written and handsomely produced ... this is an important book that specialists and nonspecialists alike will find rewarding.' - American Historical Review

'Kathleen Wilson's detailed and lively study is ... theoretically rigorous and exemplary in its interdisciplinary approach, encompassing appropriate analysis of drama and poetry as well as a range of extremely well-chosen and intriguing prints and paintings ... This is a book which will appeal to scholars in a wide range of disciplines ... her work fills the reader with renewed enthusiasm for her subject.' - European Journal of English Studies

'Elegantly written and handsomely produced ... this is an important book that specialists and nonspecialists alike will find rewarding.' - American Historical Review

'Kathleen Wilson's detailed and lively study is ... theoretically rigorous and exemplary in its interdisciplinary approach, encompassing appropriate analysis of drama and poetry as well as a range of extremely well-chosen and intriguing prints and paintings ... This is a book which will appeal to scholars in a wide range of disciplines ... her work fills the reader with renewed enthusiasm for her subject.' - European Journal of English Studies

From the Publisher

This is a terrific book, which will add to Kathleen Wilson's reputation as a talented historian of nation and empire in the eighteenth century. It is well written, rich in historical imagination and innovative thinking.

Catherine Hall

Kathleen Wilson is unquestionably one of the most exciting and innovative historians writing about eighteenth-century Britain.

John Brewer

Wilson's exuberant and compendious book suggestively analyzes many unexpected aspects of empire. This immensely readable history, impressively informed by fact and theory, will attract a receptive and appreciative cross-disciplinary audience.

Felicity Nussbaum