Country life - Howard Newby

Crabbe, goldsmith and clare in one generation, george eliot in another, mary webb in yet another, and the 'edwardian country diary' industry in our own, have all contributed to the myth of merrie england, happy beef-eating rustics or peasants dancing- the turth could hardly be further removed. Life off the land has always been severe for country people. In this social history and corrective the history of the countryside over the last two centuries is presented with humanity and clarity: from the enclosure of the old strip farms to create fields and the first capitalist industry in the world, the effects of the ensuing competition and changes in the law, machinery and farming techniques, to the effects of the napoleonic wars and the corn law, the first world war and lloyd george's budget, the second world war and the eec, and from various attempts at unionization and rioting, to changing patterns of population and movement of labour - these and other matters are worked into an extremely readable and moving account 29/2/88-offsetting weidenfeld and nicolson edition: b: 5000 at $4.99: 256pp: uc=81p: max. UK YES