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Zusatztext splendid book ... The details are massed down the age, yet the writing is so clear, and the material so well organized into sections, that the reader is led effortlessly through the examples to the conclusions at the end of each chapter. Habakkuk's great book is the culmination of his work on landownership. His legacy will be that his ideas will continue to provoke historical debate of the highest quality, enhanced by the richness of the material available in the United Kingdom. Klappentext This book examines the social and legal foundations of the British ruling class, the great landlords and the gentry. From the late seventeenth century, when it freed itself from many of the constraints of royal power, to the present century, when it became submerged by mass democracy, this class was the central element in the social and political life of Britain. Sir John Habakkuk sets out to examine why it was that, in the first industrial nation, the landedélite so long retained its role. Zusammenfassung Unil the later nineteenth century the great landlords and the gentry were the central element in the social and political life of the country, and even as late as 1940, in the supreme crisis of English history, the choice of leader lay between a grandson of the 11th Earl of Devon and a grandson of the 7th Duke of Marlborough. This book examines the social and legal foundations of this class - the estate and the family - from the late seventeenth century, when it freed itself from many of the constraints of royal power, to the present century when it became submerged by mass democracy. It sets out to answer the question why, in the first industrial nation, the landed élite so long retained its role. Sir John Habakkuk's comprehensive examination of the structure of the landed family, its estate, and its relations with other social groups sheds light on this problem, and makes a major contribution to historical debate.
