Nicholas Hudson is Professor of English at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of Samuel Johnson and Eighteenth-Century Thought (1988), Writing and European Thought, 1600–1830 (Cambridge, 1994), and of numerous essays on eighteenth-century literature, thought and culture.

'… it is bold, well argued and, above all, modern.' The Times Higher Education Supplement

• Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. From 'rank' to 'class': the changing structures of social hierarchy; 2. Constructing the middle-class woman; 3. From 'broad-bottom' to 'party': the rise of modern English politics; 4. 'The voice of the nation': the evolution of the 'public'; 5. The construction of English nationhood; 6. The material and ideological development of the British Empire; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Nicholas Hudson is Professor of English at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of Samuel Johnson and Eighteenth-Century Thought (1988), Writing and European Thought, 1600–1830 (Cambridge, 1994), and of numerous essays on eighteenth-century literature, thought and culture.

'… it is bold, well argued and, above all, modern.' The Times Higher Education Supplement

• Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. From 'rank' to 'class': the changing structures of social hierarchy; 2. Constructing the middle-class woman; 3. From 'broad-bottom' to 'party': the rise of modern English politics; 4. 'The voice of the nation': the evolution of the 'public'; 5. The construction of English nationhood; 6. The material and ideological development of the British Empire; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Nicholas Hudson is Professor of English at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of Samuel Johnson and Eighteenth-Century Thought (1988), Writing and European Thought, 1600–1830 (Cambridge, 1994), and of numerous essays on eighteenth-century literature, thought and culture.

'… it is bold, well argued and, above all, modern.' The Times Higher Education Supplement

• Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. From 'rank' to 'class': the changing structures of social hierarchy; 2. Constructing the middle-class woman; 3. From 'broad-bottom' to 'party': the rise of modern English politics; 4. 'The voice of the nation': the evolution of the 'public'; 5. The construction of English nationhood; 6. The material and ideological development of the British Empire; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index.