Victor G. Kiernan

An extraordinarily wide-ranging book which brings within a single view the wars which created Europe's empires. Beginning with the post-Napoleonic era, it presents all the major episodes of an often dramatic story in which the military agents of European imperialism met the peoples of the rest of the world in armed conflict. Brilliant sketches of far-off battles and campaigns are interwoven with the changing balance of economic and political power, until the colonial liberation movements turned the tables in the aftermath of the Second World War.

When European explorers went out into the world to open up trade routes and establish colonies, they brought back much more than silks and spices, cotton and tea. Inevitably, they came into contact with the peoples of other parts of the world and formed views of them, occasionally admiring, more often hostile or contemptuous.Using a stunning array of sources - missionaries' memoirs, the letters of diplomats' wives, explorers' diaries and the work of writers as diverse as Voltaire, Thackeray, Oliver Goldsmith and, of course, Kipling - Victor Kiernan teases out the full range of European attitudes to other peoples. Erudite, ironic and global in its scope, The Lords of Human Kind has been a major influence on a generation of historians and cultural critics and is a landmark in the history of Eurocentrism. The legacy of colonial attitudes to other cultures is, of course, an integral part of the modern world, and the history of their formation is one which cannot be ignored.

The romance and drama of the duel has made it an enduring attraction in novels, plays, and operas; but it takes on a deeper significance when considered in its social, evolutionary setting. From medieval times, the privilege of duelling was regarded as a badge of rank, an assertion ofpreeminence by Europe's dominant classes. This book describes the evolution of the duel from its medieval origins to the early 20th century. It also looks at the opinions about duelling in different areas and historical eras, as reflected in legislation, church pronouncements, and the works ofphilosophers such as Montesquieu, and writers like Walter Scott. Kiernan discusses the duel as something unique to Europe and its colonies, its practice in Ireland and Scotland compared with English practice, what women thought of it, and how it contributed to the development of an officer corps,throwing new light on the long ascendancy of aristocratic classes and their values in European history.

The invasion and occupation of Iraq have sparked considerable discussion about the nature of American imperialism, but most of it is focused on the short term. The classical historical approach of this book provides a convincing and compelling analysis of the different phases of American imperialism, which have now led to America becoming a global hegemon without any serious rivals.Victor Kiernan, one of the world’s most respected historians, has used his nuanced knowledge of history, literature and politics to trace the evolution of the American he includes accounts of relations between Indians and white settlers, readings of the work of Melville and Whitman, and an analysis of the way that money and politics became so closely intertwined.Eric Hobsbawm’s preface provides an insight into his own thoughts on American imperialism, and a valuable introduction to Victor Kiernan’s work. Together, they shed useful light on today’s urgent debates about the uses and misuses of seemingly unlimited military power, a lack of respect for international agreements, and the right to ‘pre-emptive defense’.

V.G. Kiernan is recognized as one of the most remarkable historians of the twentieth century. Eric Hobsbawm says of Kiernan that his knowledge is "encyclopedic" and Edward Said refers to his writings on imperialism as "milestones." In Imperialism and Its Contradictions , Kiernan critically addresses the origins, consequences and legacies of modern imperialism and colonialism, discussing the imperial experience in its totality.Sensitive to the tragic and ironic character of human history, Kiernan considers and reflects upon the political, economic and cultural dimensions of the imperial experience and how it has shaped the lives and social orders of Europeans and non-Europeans alike.Issues treated in Imperialism and Its Contradictions include the question of the relationship between the rise of capitalism and the making of Europe's overseas empires; the creation of colonial armies and their political uses; the dialectic of imperialism and revolution; the impact of imperialism on European culture; and the social and cultural problems confronting a post-imperial and multicultural Britain. The book also includes Kiernan's discussion of the work of Antonio Gramsci and its implications for the study of imperialism.

The seventeenth century saw the brief flowering of tragic drama in western Europe as a whole and in England in particular. It was, argues Victor Kiernan, the artistic expression of the consciousness of change which permeated every aspect of life during this period.In this companion volume to Poet and Citizen Kiernan sets out to rescue Shakespearean studies from the increasingly solipsistic terrain of literary criticism, focusing instead on historical location as a means to understanding Shakespeare’s writing. Kiernan contends that the deep and accelerating changes in economy and society, brought about by the development of modern capitalism, drew the underlying tragic tensions of the History plays to the forefront.Other writers were feeling similar influences and across Western Europe, especially in France and Spain, tragic drama became a popular form. Kiernan shows how England’s supremacy in this genre was both a mirror and a result of the profound nature of its social and economic development and the uncertainty and anxiety which it created.Opening with a sketch of the progress of the theatre, Kiernan goes on to provide a portrait of Shakespeare as a professional. He then considers each of the eight tragedies from Julius Caesar to Coriolanus, drawing out their contrasts and recurring themes. In a final section he analyses the group as a whole and explores attitudes to the monarchy, political life, war, religion and philosophy and the relationship between the sexes.

Marxism and Studies

Kiernan, V. G.

Today, more is known about the life and work of the great Latin poet Horace than any other writer of antiquity. In this new study of Horace, one of the formative influences on modern European literature, renowned historian V. G. Kiernan examines the distinctive personality and poetry of the poet as well as the economic and social conditions of the Italy in which he lived. Kiernan begins with a background survey of Rome and its rise to supremacy in Italy and shows how Horace--the son of a former slave--rose from humble beginnings to become a valued supporter of the first Roman emperor, Augustus, whose power he had once resisted. Kiernan reveals how a time of rapid change and civil war contributed to the work of Horace and how many of the divisions and contradictions in the social structure of that time are reflected in Horaceâ s own nature and in his poems. Horaceâ s works, including the Satires, Epodes, Odes, and Epistles, are discussed at length, as are the themes found in them such as the public panoply of government, war, religion, empire, and the private realm of friendship, wine, love, and nature. Kiernan also looks at the similarities between Horaceâ s age and our own, both in conflicts over class and race and in widespread religious doubts and shifts. A thoughtful work from one of this centuryâ s most gifted scholars, this new and intensely personal approach to Horace should not be missed.

Book by Kiernan, V. G., Kaye, Harvey J.

Dust jacket worn, corners bumped. Shipped from the U.K. All orders received before 3pm sent that weekday.

In this book the distinguished historian Victor Kiernan makes a case for seeing Shakespeare as a writer profoundly sensitive to the great social and political upheavals through which he lived. Shakespeare’s poetic and dramatic achievement, Kiernan argues, was not something which transcended his environment but was directly enlarged by his civic consciousness and his critical reactions to a changing social fabric.Shakespeare’s phase of dramatic activity coincides with the first challenges to the institution of monarchy. Kiernan analyses the cycle of History plays in the light of the demise of feudal allegiances and the emergence of the modern state apparatus. He shows how the far-reaching transformations in social hierarchy which simultaneously began to take place are crucial to an understanding of the Comedies, in which confusion of identity, disguise and cross-dressing are central. And he examines the ways in which women’s roles are affected by this nascent individualism, especially in relation to the ideas of romantic love around which the Comedies revolve. Poet and Citizen draws a vivid portrait of the outstanding dramatist of modernity. Lucid, scholarly and absorbing, it will be a rich resource for both students and the general reader.

Poets, Politics and the People brings together for the first time the most important writings on English literature, culture and politics by one of the leading Marxist historians of our time. The essays collected here consider the work of Shakespeare, Tennyson and Wordsworth; the relation between writers and 'the people' in popular protest; and the ideas which have motivated and inspired popular struggles, especially Christianity and socialism. Also include are articles in which Kiernan reflects on the 'Cambridge traitors' of the 1930s and the continuing obsession with 'the enemy within'. Together, they form a 'history from the bottom up', reappropriating a radical democratic tradition of thought in Britain. Best known for his studies on imperialism and state formation, Kiernan in this book demonstrates a far-reaching interest in the cultural determinants of literary production, and provides a model for the study of literature in history which will be of interest to scholars of history and literature alike.