The Sinews of Power: War, Money and the English State, 1688-1783 / Edition 1

by John Brewer

Overview

This powerful interpretation of English history provides a completely new framework for understanding how Britain emerged in the eighteenth century as a major international power.

John Brewer’s brilliant analysis makes clear that the drastic increase in Britain's military involvement (and success) in Europe and the expansion of her commercial and imperial interests would not have happened without a concurrent radical increase in taxation, along with a surge in deficit financing and the growth of a substantial public administration. Warfare and taxes reshaped the English economy, and at the heart of these dramatic changes lay an issue that is still very much with us today: the tension between a nation's aspirations to be a major power and fear of the domestic consequences of such an ambition—namely, the loss of liberty.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674809307
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	10/01/1990
Edition description:	1st Harvard University pbk. ed
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	745,382
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.75(d)
Lexile:	1500L (what's this?)

About the Author

John Brewer is Director of the Center for Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Studies and Director of the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures

Preface

Introduction

PART I

1. Before the Revolution:

The English State in the Medieval and Early Modern Eras

PART II

2. Patterns of Military Effort

3. Civil Administration: The Central Offices of Government

4. Money, Money, Money: The Growth in Debts and Taxes

PART III

5. The Paradoxes of State Power

PART IV

6. The Parameters of War

7. War and Taxes

PART V

8. The Politics of Information: Public Knowledge and Private Interest

Conclusion

Notes

Index

Editorial Reviews

Brewer poses another question of great importance…how did a small island, of no great population, and which had, for the most part, played an insignificant role in seventeenth-century Europe, transform itself, in the space of sixty years, into a great naval power with an immense empire? Brewer is to be congratulated [on] here identifying a major theme and pursuing it with great skill.

Times Literary Supplement - John Cannon

Brewer has countered the traditional image of Britain as a lightly administered society by showing the degree to which the ideology of liberty was founded on a highly organized bureaucracy.

David Simpson

What Brewer does is to link the work of other historians with his own research into the workings of the bureaucratic machine, and to draw some wider conclusions about the nature of British society in general.

Sunday Times - Jonathan Clark

Brewer has countered the traditional image of Britain as a lightly administered society by showing the degree to which the ideology of liberty was founded on a highly organized bureaucracy.--David Simpson "New York Times Book Review"

Brewer poses another question of great importance...how did a small island, of no great population, and which had, for the most part, played an insignificant role in seventeenth-century Europe, transform itself, in the space of sixty years, into a great naval power with an immense empire? Brewer is to be congratulated [on] here identifying a major theme and pursuing it with great skill.--John Cannon "Times Literary Supplement"

What Brewer does is to link the work of other historians with his own research into the workings of the bureaucratic machine, and to draw some wider conclusions about the nature of British society in general.--Jonathan Clark "Sunday Times"

From the Publisher

Brewer has countered the traditional image of Britain as a lightly administered society by showing the degree to which the ideology of liberty was founded on a highly organized bureaucracy.
— David Simpson

New York Times Book Review

What Brewer does is to link the work of other historians with his own research into the workings of the bureaucratic machine, and to draw some wider conclusions about the nature of British society in general.
— Jonathan Clark

Sunday Times

Brewer poses another question of great importance...how did a small island, of no great population, and which had, for the most part, played an insignificant role in seventeenth-century Europe, transform itself, in the space of sixty years, into a great naval power with an immense empire? Brewer is to be congratulated [on] here identifying a major theme and pursuing it with great skill.
— John Cannon

Times Literary Supplement

Addressing the question of how Britain emerged in the 18th century as a major international power, Brewer's (Director of the Center for Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Studies, UCLA) analysis reveals that the drastic increase in Britain's military involvement (and success) in Europe and the expansion of her commercial and imperial interests would not have happened without a concurrent radical increase in taxation, along with a surge in deficit financing and the growth of a substantial public administration. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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