Product Description

We rarely hear the past voices of the rural poor - the labourers dependent on casual employment, the workhouse inmates, the dispossessed. This book lets them tell their own story. It is, frequently, a story of bitterness and resentment, and one that bursts occasionally into outright rebellion. To many who occupied the early-Victorian countryside, injustice seemed part of the landscape. Robert Lee draws on a remarkable set of historical sources from Norfolk which show how the experience of poverty could lead people into social transgression and political resistance. Using dramatisations of contemporary accounts he presents a series of disturbing true stories, and goes on to assess what each one can tell us about the reality of nineteenth-century rural society. Insurrection, riot, execution, witchcraft, seduction - "Unquiet Country" visits the dark side of the Age of Improvement.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #178721 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

About the Author
Dr. Robert Lee is a Research Associate at the University of Durham, specialising in nineteenth-century social history.

Customer Reviews

Nothing quiet about this...
The first commendable strength of this book is its readability. Whilst there is clear academic credibility, with copious referencing, wide-ranging research and a remarkable set of historical sources underpinning the content of this investigation, this is not your usual dry and detached historical thesis. For a start, it is a short book! It is not unnecessarily wordy like so many academic tomes, yet nevertheless it packs a strong punch of thought-provoking reflection within its 160 pages. The credibility of the book as a whole stems from the voices of the rural poor themselves, who are caringly brought back to consciousness in order to present their stories. The author clearly has more than just a passing academic interest in the historical details of his subject. He is also passionately driven to give these people a voice, and we sense (and even grow to share?) that passion as we read the book .This is not the history of kings, queens and the well-to-dos, but of real people, whose voices we rarely here. This book powerfully yet sensitively explodes that mythic idyll of England’s green and pleasant rural land, with a passionate and compelling evocation of the reality of what life was really like for the rural poor of nineteenth century England ( and specifically Norfolk).

This is both a visual and aural book, achieved through clever and varied narrative style. In order to recreate the sense of time, place and experiences that these ‘real’ people actually lived during their lifetimes the author successfully mixes academic interpretation and commentary with evocative reconstruction, narrative storytelling and, in places, scripted dialogue. As such, it becomes a comfortable and compelling read. The style employed is not unlike current TV docu-drama reconstructions. It is therefore no coincidence that this reader kept visualising the TV mini-series of the latest Historical Docu-drama, ‘based on a true story!’ … Wood, Starkey, Schama… now Lee? If you are a TV producer looking for potential new and innovative historical docu-drama, then I would strongly recommend you read this book. But even if you are not in TV, then I urge you even more strongly to read it, for not only will you not have to wait to see it on TV, but it is an excellent, provocative and interesting read in its own right….. and not only is it a story (history) of the past… it is a pertinent moral tale for today: ignore the voices of the little people [real people] at your peril. Unquiet Country, a refreshingly sensitive historical exploration of real people.

Unquiet Country
If you have "ag labs" in Norfolk (or probably anywhere in rural England) Read this book. Previous review says it all, better than I can.

Book review
As a student of this period of history an invaluable book. Also a good read.
Usual good Amazon service