Geographies of British Modernity: Space and Society in the Twentieth Century (Rgs-Ibg Book Series)

This volume brings together leading scholars in the geography and history of twentieth-century Britain to illustrate the contribution that geographical thinking can make to understanding modern Britain. The first collection to explore the contribution that geographical thinking can make to our understanding of modern Britain. Contains thirteen essays by leading scholars in the geography and history of twentieth-century Britain. Focuses on how and why geographies of Britain have formed and changed over the past century. Combines economic, political, social and cultural geographies. Demonstrates the vitality of work in this field and its relevance to everyday life. Content: Chapter 1 Historical Geographies of British Modernity (pages 1–28): Brian Short, David Gilbert and David Matless Chapter 2 A Century of Progress? Inequalities in British Society, 1901–2000 (pages 29–53): Danny Dorling Chapter 3 The Conservative Century? Geography and Conservative Electoral Success During the Twentieth Century (pages 54–79): Ron Johnston, Charles Pattie, Danny Dorling and David Rossiter Chapter 4 Mobility in the Twentieth Century: Substituting Commuting for Migration? (pages 80–96): Colin G. Pooley Chapter 5 Qualifying the Evidence: Perceptions of Rural Change in Britain in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century (pages 97–112): Alun Howkins Chapter 6 ‘A Power for Good or Evil’: Geographies of the M1 in Late Fifties Britain (pages 113–131): Peter Merriman Chapter 7 A New England: Landscape, Exhibition and Remaking Industrial Space in the 1930s (pages 132–150): Denis Linehan Chapter 8 A Man's World? Masculinity and Metropolitan Modernity at Simpson Piccadilly (pages 151–167): Bronwen Edwards Chapter 9 Mosques, Temples and Gurdwaras: New Sites of Religion in Twentieth?Century Britain (pages 168–184): Simon Naylor and James R. Ryan Chapter 10 ‘Stop Being so English’: Suburban Modernity and National Identity in The Twentieth Century (pages 185–203): David Gilbert and Rebecca Preston Chapter 11 Nation, Empire and Cosmopolis: Ireland and the Break with Britain (pages 204–228): Gerry Kearns Chapter 12 British Geographical Representations of Imperialism and Colonial Development in the Early and Mid?Twentieth Century (pages 229–249): Robin A. Butlin This volume brings together leading scholars in the geography and history of twentieth-century Britain to illustrate the contribution that geographical thinking can make to understanding modern Britain.

• The first collection to explore the contribution that geographical thinking can make to our understanding of modern Britain.
• Contains thirteen essays by leading scholars in the geography and history of twentieth-century Britain.
• Focuses on how and why geographies of Britain have formed and changed over the past century.
• Combines economic, political, social and cultural geographies.
• Demonstrates the vitality of work in this field and its relevance to everyday life.

In 1902 Heinemann of London published Halford Mackinder's Britain and the British Seas, a work of geographical synthesis in which 'the phenomena of topographical distribution relating to many classes of fact have been treated, but from a single standpoint and on a uniform method' (1902:vii). Britain and Britishness have been the subject of intense debate. This volume brings together leading scholars in the geography and history of 20th-century Britain to illustrate the contribution that geographical thinking can make to understanding contemporary Britain