Walking Histories, 1800-1914

by Chad Bryant (Editor), Arthur Burns (Editor), Paul Readman (Editor)

Overview

Few historians have written about walking, despite its obvious centrality to the human condition. Focusing on the period 1800-1914, this book examines the practices and meanings of walking in the context of transformative modernity. It boldly suggests that once historians place walking at the heart of their analyses, exciting new perspectives on themes central to the ‘long nineteenth century’ emerge. Walking Histories, 1800-1914 adopts a global perspective, including contributions from specialists in the history and culture of Great Britain, North America, Australia, Russia, East-Central Europe, and South Asia. Critically engaging with recent research, the contributions within offer fresh insights for academic experts, while remaining accessible to student readers. This book will be essential reading for those interested in movement, travel, leisure, urban history, and environmental history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781137484970
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	04/17/2016
Edition description:	1st ed. 2016
Pages:	332
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Chad Bryant is Associate Professor in Central and Eastern European History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. He is author of Prague in Black: Czech Nationalism and Nazi Rule (2007) and is co-editor, with Cynthia Radding and Paul Readman, of Borderlands in World History, 1700-1914 (2014).

Arthur Burns is Professor of Modern British History at King’s College London, UK. His books include Rethinking the Age of Reform: Britain 1780-1850 (2003), co-edited with Joanna Innes, and St Paul’s: The Cathedral Church of London 604-2004 (2004), co-edited with Derek Keene and Andrew Saint.

Paul Readman is Professor of Modern British History at King’s College London, UK. His publications include Land and Nation in England: Patriotism, National Identity and the Politics of Land 1880-1914 (2008), and as co-editor with Chad Bryant and Cynthia Radding, Borderlands in World History, 1700-1914 (2014).

Table of Contents

Introduction: Modern Walks; Chad Bryant, Arthur Burns and Paul Readman.- PART I: WALKING, SPACE, AND BOUNDARIES.- 1. Walking the Boundaries between Modernity and Tradition; Robert Gray.- 2. Strolling the Romantic City; Chad Bryant.- 3. Rites of Passage; Simon Sleight.- PART II: THE OPTICS OF WALKING.- 4. Walking as Labour in Henry Mayhew’s London; Elizabeth Coggin Womack.- 5. ‘Efficiency on Foot’? The Well-Run Estate of Nineteenth-Century Britain; Julie Hipperson.- PART III: WEEKEND WALKING, OR NOT.- 6. Accidents Will Happen; Arthur Burns.- 7. ‘A Good Walk Spoiled?’ Golfers and the Experience of Landscape during the Late Nineteenth Century; Clare V. J. Griffiths.- 8. Urban Space and Travel on the Jewish Sabbath in the Nineteenth Century; Barry Stiefel.- PART IV: WALKING, CONTEMPLATION, AND THE SELF.- 9. The Saints Who Walk; Iqbal Sevea.- 10. Walking in Andrei Bely’s Petersburg; Angeliki Sioli.- 11. Walking and Environmentalism in the Career of James Bryce; Paul Readman.-

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Striking into new territory, Walking Histories demonstrates walking's foundational participation in modernity. Eleven essays range through Britain, Europe and Asia, opening fresh perspectives on the richly-varied, potentially contradictory meanings of walking as conservative tradition and radical resistance, as return to nature and commercial opportunity, as sport and act of piety.” (Anne D. Wallace, UNC Greensboro, US)

Editorial Reviews

What is striking and perhaps novel here is the range of perspectives that the authors collectively bring to the subject. … Here are a series of highly intelligent and rigorously researched essays whose variety allows us to look beyond the classic ‘Romantic walker’ and urban flaneur … and is surely now a must-read for anyone interested in the history of walking.” (Peter Borsay, Social History, Vol. 42 (3), July, 2017)

“This collection has a truly global reach. .. no one could read this rich and resonant collection without learning something … .” (William Whyte, English Historical Review EHR, Vol. 132 (556), June, 2017)

From the Publisher