The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy"A brilliant, multifaceted chronicle of economic and social change." --The New York Times At the outset of the 1870s, the British aristocracy could rightly consider themselves the most fortunate people on earth: they held the lion's share of land, wealth, and power in the world's greatest empire. By the end of the 1930s they had lost not only a generation of sons in the First World War, but also much of their prosperity, prestige, and political significance. Deftly orchestrating an enormous array of documents and letters, facts, and statistics, David Cannadine shows how this shift came about--and how it was reinforced in the aftermath of the Second World War. Astonishingly learned, lucidly written, and sparkling with wit, The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy is a landmark study that dramatically changes our understanding of British social history. |
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acres administration agricultural appointed aristocratic Balfour baronet became Britain British Politics cabinet Cannadine career Cecil chairman Chamberlain Church Churchill committee Commons Conservative constituency Corruption country houses county council Crawford Papers Curzon decline Derby Duke of Devonshire Duke of Westminster Earl election élite England English estates Foreign genteel Gladstone grandees grandees and gentry Halifax Henry Henry Channon hereditary History Home Rule honours House of Lords income increasingly inter-war Ireland Irish Joseph Chamberlain Labour Lady landed establishment Landed Society landlords landowners later less Liberal Party Lloyd George London Londonderry longer Lord Crawford Lord Derby Lord Rosebery Lord Salisbury Lord-Lieutenant majority Marquess ment middle class National nineteenth century Norfolk notables Office owners Parliament parliamentary patrician peerage peers plutocracy plutocratic Prime Minister Reform rich Rosebery Royal Scotland Selborne social sold tion titles Tory traditional Ulster Unionist upper house Victorian Viscount Wales wealth Westminster Whigs Willoughby