Product Description

By the outbreak of the First World War England had become the world's first mass urban society. In just over sixty years the proportion of town-dwellers had risen from 50 to 80 per cent, and during this period many of the most crucial developments in English urban society had taken place. This book provides a uniquely comprehensive analysis of those developments - conurbations, suburbs, satellite towns, garden cities, and seaside resorts. The author assesses the importance of London, the provincial cities, and manufacturing centres; he also examines the continuing influence of the small country town and `rural' England on political, economic, and cultural growth. In many respects, P. J. Waller's book is a general social history of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century England, seen from an urban perspective. It is both scholarly and immensely readable.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #233479 in Books
• Published on: 1983-09-22
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 350 pages

History Today
'The material and ideas set out in this interesting book stimulate as well as inform.'

Review
`The material and ideas set out in this interesting book stimulate as well as inform.' History Today

a mine of information, but also a pleasure to read. (Albion )

`Waller extracts much and his interpretations question prevalent stereotypes in English historiography and advance the definition of urban history itself ... a comprehensive view of its subject.' Urban History Review

Urban History Review
`Waller extracts much and his interpretations question prevalent stereotypes in English historiography and advance the definition of urban history itself ... a comprehensive view of its subject.'