Overview

This collection of essays celebrates the influence of David Cannadine and examines the place of Britain's political and cultural institutions, and the impact of individuals in their formation and evolution. The focus of this Festschrift is the steady making and remaking of British political and cultural institutions since 1800, and the importance of individual agency in that process. Such focus reflects the preoccupations of one of Britain's most prominent professional and public historians: Sir David Cannadine. Cannadine has written on the changing public face of the monarchy and on the impact of aristocratic sensibilities on modern British political culture. He has examined some of Britain's most well-established institutions, and interpreted the British empire as a project to sustain and promote social hierarchy. In Cannadine's writings on aristocracy, empire, institutional life and national historical memory, individuals appear as history-makers, but always situated in their social and cultural contexts. Essays in this volume draw inspiration from all these themes. Among the institutions discussed are Parliament, the Primrose League, the civil service, the London Library, the Institute of Historical Research and the National Portrait Gallery. The role of individuals in context features in essays on Benjamin Disraeli, Henry Drummond Wolff, Winston Churchill, the museum director Roy Strong and the National Park publicists Walter Greenwood and Laurie Lee. Tensions between intellectual work and institutional public service are uncovered in essays on Noel Annan, Geoffrey Crowther and Owen Chadwick. Authority (political, social, cultural) - its construction and re-construction - is the central concern guiding the essays. An introductory section discusses the many-sided work of Cannadine himself, both as a historian and as a servant of institutions.

Full Product Details

Author:   Jonathan Parry ,  Stephanie Barczewski ,  Helen McCarthy ,  Joseph S. Meisel (Joukowsky Family University Librarian and Adjunct Associate Professor of History at Brown University)
Publisher:   Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Imprint:   Boydell & Brewer
Weight:   0.666kg
ISBN:  

9781837651184

ISBN 10:   1837651183
Pages:   318
Publication Date:   02 September 2025
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

List of Figures Note on Contributors Acknowledgments Preface PART I AN INDIVIDUAL AND HIS INSTITUTIONS 1 David Cannadine, History and British institutions Jonathan Parry 2 David Cannadine and the Monarchy Miles Taylor 3 'A Small Lighted Candle': Trusteeship and the National Portrait Gallery Sandy Nairne 4 David Cannadine and Philanthropy Paul Ramsbottom PART II THE THEATRE OF STATE 5 Disraeli as Theatre Joseph S. Meisel 6 The Primrose, the Salon and the East: Henry Drummond Wolff and Disraelian Aristocratic Politics Jonathan Parry 7 Dining in the Palace of Varieties: Institutional Culture, Society Living and Party Management in the Victorian House of Commons Paul Seaward 8 History as His Story: Churchill, Memoirs and Public History David Reynolds 9 Last Post: Retirement at the British Foreign Office Helen McCarthy PART III SOME METROPOLITAN INSTITUTIONS 10 From Bloomsbury to the World: The Institute of Historical Research, Academic Habitus, and Historians as Public Intellectuals, 1921-39 Paul Readman and Martha Vandrei 11 The London Library in its Early Decades: Social and Political Connections of a Victorian Institution Jill Pellew 12 The Museum as Theatre: Sir Roy Strong at the National Portrait Gallery Charles Saumarez Smith PART IV PUBLIC INTELLECTUALS AND POST-WAR BRITAIN 13 The Origins of Britain's National Parks: Laurie Lee, Walter Greenwood and the Documentary Film Park Here (1947) Stephanie Barczewski 14 Geoffrey Crowther, Economics and Anglo-American futures James Thompson 15 Boommanship: Noel Annan, Ambition, and Academic life William Whyte 16 Owen Chadwick and the Writing of Christian History Stephen Taylor David Cannadine's Publications Index

Reviews

Author Information

JONATHAN PARRY is Professor of Modern British History, University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Pembroke College Cambridge Helen McCarthy is Professor of Modern and Contemporary British History at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of St John's College. Paul Readman is Professor of Modern British History at King's College London. James Thompson is Professor of Modern British History at the University of Bristol

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Countries Available

All regions