Paradise lost : rural idyll and social change in England since 1800

In this remarkable book Jeremy Burchardt traces the influence that attitudes toward the countryside have had on the evolution of modern British life. In the "town versus country" debate, Burchardt looks at the idealization of the countryside by artists and writers, the development of anti-urban and anti-industrial values, rural-urban commuting, environmentalist criticism of industrial farming, and the effect on government policy, social structure, and economic dynamism. Contents 5 Acknowledgements 6 Introduction 7 Chapter 1 Industrialization and Urbanization 19 Chapter 2 Literature and the Countryside, c.1800 to c.1870 31 Chapter 3 Radicalism and the Land, c.1790 to c.1850 41 Chapter 4 Gardens, Allotments and Parks 52 Chapter 5 Model Villages and Garden Cities 64 Chapter 6 Literary Attitudes to the Countryside in the Later Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries 73 Chapter 7 Land Reform After 1850 83 Chapter 8 Preservationism, ‘Englishness’ and the Rise of Planning, c.1880–1939 95 Chapter 9 The Economic Consequences of Rural Nostalgia 118 Chapter 10 Rambling 127 Chapter 11 The Organic Movement Before and During the Second World War 137 Chapter 12 Rural Reconstruction Between the Wars 147 Chapter 13 Rural Change and the Legislative Framework, 1939 to 2000 156 Chapter 14 Agriculture and the Environment 174 Chapter 15 Recreation in the Countryside Since the Second World War 184 Chapter 16 Intra-village Social Change and Attitudinal Conflict in the Twentieth Century 193 Chapter 17 Town, Country and Politics at the End of the Twentieth Century 204 Notes 215 Select Bibliography 228 Index 235 "The enduring 'Town versus Country' debate lies at the root of modern British society. How far did the idealization of the countryside by artists and writers since the Industrial Revolution foster anti-urban, anti-industrial values? How have such values affected government policy, social structure and economic dynamism? Did post-war developments, in particular rural-urban commuting and environmentalist criticism of modern 'industrial' farming, undermine the traditional distinction between town and country, or are they themselves symptoms of the continuing allure of the rural idyll? This book will demonstrate the remarkable influence that attitudes to the countryside have had on the evolution of modern British life."--Bloomsbury Publishing. Annotation. In this remarkable book Jeremy Burchardt traces the influence that attitudes toward the countryside have had on the evolution of modern British life. In the "town versus country" debate, Burchardt looks at the idealization of the countryside by artists and writers, the development of anti-urban and anti-industrial values, rural-urban commuting, environmentalist criticism of industrial farming, and the effect on government policy, social structure, and economic dynamism