New Releases by George Dangerfield

La extraña muerte de la Inglaterra liberal, que ahora se publica por vez primera en español, es ya una obra clásica, habiéndose convertido en referente para quienes deseen conocer las claves del pasado británico en los inicios del siglo que contemplara el fin del Imperio. En ella su autor, George Dangerfield, intenta dar explicación a uno de los fenómenos político-electorales más interesantes, por sorprendentes, de la historia política comparada: la práctica desaparición del Partido Liberal británico, auténtico protagonista de la edad de oro decimonónica en las islas. Apenas cuatro años tras la abrumadora victoria en los comicios de 1906, el último gobierno liberal será sometido a diversos desafíos que anticipan el posterior desenlace: la oposición de los Lores y la reforma de su Cámara, el movimiento sufragista, el conflicto obrero y el «problema irlandés».Profundo conocedor del alma humana y de las entrañas de la política, la galería de hechos y personajes dibujados por el pincel de Dangerfield nos acerca a una época que, si bien hoy puede parecer lejana, se enfrentó a unos retos llamativamente actuales. En todo caso, el libro es más que la glosa de las vicisitudes políticas del período; es la crónica de un mundo que se iba y del nuevo que habría de cobrar forma definitiva en las trincheras del primer Armagedón contemporáneo. Y todo ello escrito en una prosa deslumbrante, con un pulso narrativo inigualable, que obliga al lector a subirse a la máquina del tiempo, en términos wellesianos, ofrecida por el autor.

"This book focuses on the chaos that overtook England on the eve of the First World War. Dangerfield weaves together the three wild strands of the Irish Rebellion (the rebellion in Ulster), the Suffragette Movement and the Labour Movement to produce a vital picture of the state of mind and the most pressing social problems in England at the time. The country was preparing even then for its entrance into the twentieth century and total war. Dangerfield argues that between the death of Edward VII and the First World War there was a considerable hiatus in English history. He states that 1910 was a landmark year in English history. In 1910 the English spirit flared up, so that by the end of 1913 Liberal England was reduced to ashes. From these ashes, a new England emerged in which the true prewar Liberalism was supported by free trade, a majority in Parliament, the Ten Commandments, but the illusion of progress vanished. That extravagant behavior of the postwar decade, Dangerfield notes, had begun before the war. The war hastened everything - in politics, in economics, in behavior - but it started nothing. George Dangerfield's wonderfully written 1935 book has been extraordinarily influential. Scarcely any important analyst of modern Britain has failed to cite it and to make use of the understanding Dangerfield provides. This edition is timely, since the year 2010 has seen a definitive resurrection of Liberal power. Subsequent to the General Election of July 2010 the government of the United Kingdom has been in the hands of a Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition. The Deputy Prime Minister is the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party - the direct successor of the old Liberal Party examined by Dangerfield. Five Liberal Democrat members of Parliament were appointed to the Cabinet and there are Liberal Democrat ministers in all governmental departments. After decades of absence from government power, Liberalism seems to be back with a vengeance."--Provided by publisher.

Ireland holds fiercely to her identity. Starting with the Act of Union in the 1800s, historian George Dangerfield dives into the "Irish Question." Dealing with such events as the Easter Rising and the famine, The Damnable Question explains Ireland's intense patriotism even after so many people immigrated to the United States. - Publisher.

At the beginning of the twentieth century England's empire spanned the globe, its economy was strong, and its political system seemed immune to the ills that inflicted so many other countries. After a resounding electoral triumph in 1906, the Liberals formed the government of the most powerful nation on earth, yet within a few years the House of Lords lost its absolute veto over legislation, the Home Rule crisis brought Ireland to the brink of civil war and led to an army mutiny, the campaign for woman's suffrage created widespread civil disorder and discredited the legal and penal systems, and an unprecedented wave of strikes swept the land. This is a classic account, first published in 1935, of the dramatic upheaval and political change that overwhelmed England in the period 1910-1914. Few books of history retain their relevance and vitality after more than sixty years. The Strange Death of Liberal England is one of the most important books of the English past, a prime example that history can be abiding literature. As a portrait of England enmeshed in the turbulence of new movements, which often led to violence against the pieties of Liberal England—until it was overwhelmed by the greatest violence of all, World War I—this extraordinary book has continued to exert a powerful influence on the way historians have observed early twentieth-century England.

Here is history as delightful as it is profound. Exploring the period between Jeffersonian democracy and Jacksonian democracy, George Dangerfield describes the personalities and experiences, American and European, which furthered the political transition "from the great dictum that central government is best when it governs least to the great dictum that central government must sometimes intervene strongly on behalf of the weak and the oppressed and the exploited." The book, winner of the Pulitzer and Bancroft prizes, throws new and fresh light on an important formative period in American history. "An agile piece of historical writing--witty, selective, and illuminating."--New Yorker. "George Dangerfield writes with gusto, sense, and authority. His agreeable, eloquent book is full of people, conflicts, ideas, and color. It is a learned book, and witty and skillful; on every page it is thoughtful, clever, and original."--Saturday Review. "History exploded with mature perception, pointed anecdote, and lively interpretation."--New York Times.

Investigates changing interpretations of Nationalism following the War of 1812.

The famous case of Gibbons v. Ogden, decided on March 2, 1824, was, with its preceding litigation, ultimately concered with a single question: the power of Congress to regulate interstate as well as foreign commerce.

Gambling on a diplomatic coup with a wily Napoleon, he maneuvered America into the needless War of 1812.

Spokesman for a rising industrialism, this prime minister bid for free trade with the United States and helped to create something quite different.