This book is an investigation of how societies have understood and described themselves. It is concerned both with the history of language and the language of history. The chapters include studies of societies in Germany, China, USA and India, pre-revolutionary France and 19th-century Britain and America. The author examines how political declarations and manifestos relate to the societies from which they emanated and for which they aimed to legislate. Words such as "liberty" and "equality" have to be understood in a limited sense in the French and American revolutions, but it would be impossible to understand these events without recourse to these resonant concepts. The essays in this book explore the difficulties and the possibilities in understanding language as historical evidence

Book Information
ISBN 9780631167334
Author Penelope J. Corfield
Format Paperback
Page Count 332
Imprint Wiley-Blackwell
Publisher John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Weight(grams) 510g
Dimensions(mm) 230mm * 155mm * 18mm