The Making Of The Second Reform Bill
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
At the heart of Victorian Britain's most turbulent democratic crisis stands the Second Reform Act of 1867 — a seismic piece of legislation that nearly doubled the electorate and reshaped the nation's political landscape forever. F. B. Smith's meticulous scholarly work chronicles the tortuous parliamentary journey of this landmark bill, dissecting the behind-the-scenes manoeuvring of Disraeli, Gladstone, and the rival factions whose ambitions, rivalries, and ideological convictions shaped its final form. Drawing on a wealth of primary sources, Smith presents an authoritative and granular account of how a deeply contested piece of legislation was forged through compromise, calculation, and brinkmanship within the corridors of Westminster. Beyond the parliamentary drama, this work illuminates the broader social and ideological forces — Chartism's legacy, the rising urban working class, and the contested nature of representation itself — that made reform both inevitable and deeply controversial. Smith's prose is precise and authoritative, reflecting his position as a Lecturer in History at the University of Melbourne, and his analysis argues persuasively that the Act was less a triumph of democratic principle than a product of acute political opportunism. For anyone seeking to understand how modern British democracy was truly born, the answer lies in the intricate, often surprising story told within these pages.
Author: F. B. Smith
Format: Hardback
Published: 1966, Cambridge University Press
Genre: British & Irish history
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
At the heart of Victorian Britain's most turbulent democratic crisis stands the Second Reform Act of 1867 — a seismic piece of legislation that nearly doubled the electorate and reshaped the nation's political landscape forever. F. B. Smith's meticulous scholarly work chronicles the tortuous parliamentary journey of this landmark bill, dissecting the behind-the-scenes manoeuvring of Disraeli, Gladstone, and the rival factions whose ambitions, rivalries, and ideological convictions shaped its final form. Drawing on a wealth of primary sources, Smith presents an authoritative and granular account of how a deeply contested piece of legislation was forged through compromise, calculation, and brinkmanship within the corridors of Westminster. Beyond the parliamentary drama, this work illuminates the broader social and ideological forces — Chartism's legacy, the rising urban working class, and the contested nature of representation itself — that made reform both inevitable and deeply controversial. Smith's prose is precise and authoritative, reflecting his position as a Lecturer in History at the University of Melbourne, and his analysis argues persuasively that the Act was less a triumph of democratic principle than a product of acute political opportunism. For anyone seeking to understand how modern British democracy was truly born, the answer lies in the intricate, often surprising story told within these pages.