Paul Langford Books

As the concluding installment of a trilogy, this volume brings together the intricate threads of the overarching narrative. It delves into the characters' final struggles and resolutions, exploring themes of redemption, sacrifice, and the consequences of past actions. The story culminates in a dramatic climax that ties up lingering mysteries and offers closure to the character arcs, leaving readers with a profound sense of completion and reflection on the journey undertaken throughout the series.

The book explores the transformation of the English national identity from 1650 to 1850, highlighting how foreign perceptions shifted from viewing the English as barbaric and fanatical to recognizing them as a powerful, politically mature nation. It examines the insights of foreign observers and connects these views to England's ambitions and anxieties amid significant societal changes, offering a nuanced understanding of Englishness during a pivotal era of industrial and imperial expansion.

Between 1650 and 1850 perceptions of the English were transformed, as a nation of supposed barbarians, fanatics, and king-killers evolved into a world power of political maturity, imperial grandeur, and industrial might. Englishness Identified traces the evolution of the so-called Englishnational character through the impressions and analyses of foreign observers, and relates it to English ambitions and anxieties during a period of rapid change.

First published as part of the best-selling The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, Paul Langford's Very Short Introduction to Eighteenth-Century Britain spans from the aftermath of the Revolution of 1688 to Pitt the Younger's defeat at attempted parliamentary reform.