Naylor, John F.

English

Histoire sociale / Social History (E-Journal, York University)

194 mSTOIRE SOCIALE - SOCIAL mSTORYFinally, Breman touches on the question of how a government handles anofficial document which contains infonnation unpalatable to those in power. In thecase of the Rhernrev Report, the government simply refused ta release the document,gave misleading summaries of the main conclusions of the report, and divertedattention by stating that proposed refonns would ensure that abuses of the typeuncovered would never be repeated. The system thus continued with little changedespite the Rhernrev Report and the debate that followed. The limited improvementsin the subsequent years owed more to economic self interest than 10 any change ofheart by planters or 10 any change of policy by the governmentThe collection of forty pho1ographs at the end of the volume provides interest-ing visual insights. The bibliography (291-318) is useful, but the index (319-321) is adisaster (consider, for instance, entries such as cash crops 1, crisis 65, 67-9.). On thewhole, however, the book is a well-researched exposé of the evils of the colonialplantation system in east Sumatra, written with emotion and a touch of dry humour.C.R. de SilvaBowdoin College***David Feldman and Gareth Stedman Jones, eds -Metropolis. London: Histories andRepresentations since 1800. London and New York: Routledge, 1989. pp. 330One need not follow in detail Prince Charles' jousting with the architecturalprofession to realize that the façade ofpresent-day London has altered almost beyondrecognition in recent times; similarly, one need not pursue Mrs. Thatcher's abolitionof the Greater London Council in order to appreciate the massive reorganization ofpoliticallife in the capital. Change is all about - perhaps nowhere more evident thatin London's erstwhile dockland - but the contribu1ors ta this anthology collectivelyremind us ofcontinuities and constants in London life. In so doing, they call attention10 the historical context underlying such dramatic, far-reaching change as the lastdecade has witnessed. Yet while London's own his10ry continues to matter, the editorsassert that the way in which its history ought to be written bas changed, albeit in asubtle fashion. As a result, their present volume seeks out "the space betweenneighborhood and nation...the space upon which the social and political history ofLondon has been fought out" (6). That space -perhaps "metropolitan" oost charac-terizes it - is important not only in its own experience, but also a leading element inthe unfolding of the national experience. Thus, in their view, London as metaphormust be placed OOside the historical reality.Their contributors illustrate London's "cutting edge" paradigm evident inmetropolitan conceptions, among others, of the nation, the "underclass", the alien,woman as worker, and socialism. To be sure, there is more than these themes in thevarious individual contributions, but these particular themes admit of generalizationand constitute the core of the volume's content. David Feldman and Gareth StedmanJones opine that such a search demarcates a newer social history, open 10 diversemethodologies and a variety of less orthodox sources. Not surprisingly, these newdirections of inquiry tend 10 relate to "metaphor", for example, in the evolving imageof working women in London in the frrst decades of this century; Deborah Thom'sCOMPTES RENDUS - BOOK REVIEWS 195"Free from Chains" is drawn largely from period photography. What is surprising,however, is the high incidence of politics - not "high politics", to be sure - foundin this self-advertisoo newer social history: no fewer than five of eleven essays are soinclinOO, to wit, Feldman's own, "The importance ofbeing English: Jewish immigra-tion and the decay of Liberal England", setting the restrictive Aliens Act of 1905 inLondon's East End; John Davies, "Radical clubs and London politics, 1870-1900";Susan Pennybacker, "Reconsidering London Progressivism, 1899-1907", a succinctreview of its decline and fall; James Gillespie, ''Popularism and proletarianism:Unemployment and Labour politics in London, 1918-34"; and the Namier-like reviewof constituency politics by Tom Jeffrey, "The Suburban Nation: Politics and class inLewisham", which compares Labour's past and present electoral problems in suchareas. Those who take their social history with a strong dash ofpolitics will find muchto consider in this volume, although they may not credit the "newness" of the topicsor methodologies.A lesser but substantial yield also awaits the student of gender questions. Inaddition to the Thom essay notOO above, there can be found a substantive andsuggestive essay by Ellen Ross, "MarriOO life in working-class London, 1870-1914",which demonstrates the inter-relatedness of the sexual antagonism which charac-terizes many such marriages with a host of other social and economic factors. SallyAlexander's "Becoming a woman in London in the 1920s and 19308" draws heavilyupon oral history to refute the traditional views of feminity underlying "the visions ofEngland and the English" (249) voiced by Orwell and J.B. Priestley in those decades.Three other essays do not relate directely to questions of politics or gender, althoughthe editors place them within their own tripartite organizational scheme. DeborahWeiner's "The People's Palace" describes a late Victorian failOO experiment in socialengineering of the East End working class; Jennifer Davis toms to the middle of thecentury in a revisionist reconstruction of life within a Kensington "rookery"; her "Theconstruction of the under-class in mid-Victorian England" warrants serious attention,as she produces evidence - from one "rookery" only - that " ...the use of so-calledcultural characteristics either to label groups or individuals or to explain their be-haviour appears problematic" (31). The Irish may yet escape the tender ministrationsof FrOOerich Engels! Finally, Gareth Stedman Jones contributes an illuminating andentertaining characterization, "The 'cockney' and the nation, 1780-1988", which willamuse all the readership who have a soft historical spot for this "rough kind o'cove".And they are likely 10 recognize good social his1Ory, whether new, newer or somethingelse.As is the general mIe, the collection is by its nature uneven, and responses arelikely to reflect particular historical interests no less than the individual author'shistorical skills. That three or four of the essays can be described as frrst-rate pieceswhich either sustain significant generalization or afford grounds 10 question orthodoxviews ought not to denigrate the contributions of the others. Taken together, the elevenessays document .the range, variety and complexity of working-class life in London,living laboratory of the social historian.John F. NaylorState University ofNew York at Buffalo***

David Feldman and Gareth Stedman Jones, eds - Metropolis. London:
Histories and Representations since 1800

https://hssh.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/hssh/article/download/16458/15317

David Feldman and Gareth Stedman Jones, eds - Metropolis. London: Histories and Representations since 1800

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Histoire sociale / Social History (E-Journal, York University)