In Pursuit of Civility: Manners and Civilization in Early Modern England (The Menahem Stern Jerusalem Lectures)

Thomas, Keith

ISBN 10: 1512602817 / ISBN 13: 9781512602814

Published by Brandeis University Press, Waltham, Mass., USA, 2018

Seller Inventory # 007604

Synopsis:

Keith Thomas’s earlier studies in the ethnography of early modern England, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Man and the Natural World, and The Ends of Life, were all attempts to explore beliefs, values, and social practices in the centuries from 1500 to 1800. In Pursuit of Civility continues this quest by examining what English people thought it meant to be “civilized” and how that condition differed from being “barbarous” or “savage.” Thomas shows that the upper ranks of society sought to distinguish themselves from their social inferiors by distinctive ways of moving, speaking, and comporting themselves, and that the common people developed their own form of civility. The belief of the English in their superior civility shaped their relations with the Welsh, the Scots, and the Irish, and was fundamental to their dealings with the native peoples of North America, India, and Australia. Yet not everyone shared this belief in the superiority of Western civilization; the book sheds light on the origins of both anticolonialism and cultural relativism. Thomas has written an accessible history based on wide reading, abounding in fresh insights, and illustrated by many striking quotations and anecdotes from contemporary sources.

About the Author: SIR KEITH THOMAS is a highly regarded historian of early modern Britain. His classic works include Religion and the Decline of Magic and Man and the Natural World.

Bibliographic Details

Title: In Pursuit of Civility: Manners and ...
Publisher: Brandeis University Press, Waltham, Mass., USA
Publication Date: 2018
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: Fine
Edition: 1st Edition