Victorian Political Thought on France and the French
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Overview
By scrutinizing the major Victorian political thinkers' perceptions and representations of France, this book shows how comparisons with the country on the other side of the Channel, its politics, civilization, and the French "national character" contributed to nineteenth-century Britain's self-definition. Among the figures discussed are Walter Bagehot, John Stuart Mill, Matthew Arnold, and Thomas Carlyle.Synopsis
A study of Victorian political thought on France and the French.
Booknews
Just as people define themselves by comparison to others, Varouxakis (politics, Aston U., Birmingham, UK) asserts, so Victorian England defined itself by comparison with the foreign country across the Channel, France. He explores the characterizations of France put forth by such political thinkers as John Stuart Mill, Walter Bagehot, Thomas Carlyle, Lord Acton, Matthew Arnold, and others. Varouxakis finds no uniformity of thought among the people he studies but contends that what marks all the thinkers is their concern with English politics as exhibited in their writings on France. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)