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A study of distrust of public institutions in Britain and America, showing how this seemingly modern phenomenon actually shaped the political, legal, economic, and religious discourse of the early modern period, inspiring reforms of criminal procedure, changes to public credit and financial systems, and challenges to church hierarchies.
List of contents
- Introduction
- 1: Trust, Distrust, and History
- 2: John Locke and Trust in Government
- 3: Distrust of Legal Institutions
- 4: Distrust of Financial and Commercial Institutions
- 5: Distrust of Ecclesiastical Institutions
- 6: The Crisis of Institutional Trust, 1970-2020
- Conclusion
About the author
Brian P. Levack is John E. Green Regents Professor Emeritus in History at the University of Texas at Austin. He has written widely on the legal, political, and religious history of early modern Europe. His books include The Civil Lawyers in England 1603-1641: A Political Study; The Formation of the British State: England, Scotland and the Union, 1603-1707; The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe, which has been translated into eight languages; Witch-hunting in Scotland: Law, Politics, and Religion; and The Devil Within: Possession and Exorcism in the Christian West. He is the editor of The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America.
Summary
A study of distrust of public institutions in Britain and America, showing how this seemingly modern phenomenon actually shaped the political, legal, economic, and religious discourse of the early modern period, inspiring reforms of criminal procedure, changes to public credit and financial systems, and challenges to church hierarchies.
Additional text
Levack writes very clearly and accessibly and cites many works in these fields. He does an admirable job of deconstructing complex institutions and ideas into easily understandable prose.
