The theme of this book is the major social changes which the people of England experienced during the period of ‘the great peace’ between the battle of Waterloo and WW I. Political, economic, intellectual, diplomatic and other ‘specialized’ kinds of history are drawn upon only in so far as they help to illuminate the changes in mental habit or outlook, or in social life and organization, which make up the story of the development of the English nation in that century. 

          The underlying motif is the remarkable accumulation of the material wealth and power which the English people achieved, and the story of whence it derived, how it was used, and how it eventually diminished. It was an age when the English exported everything in abundance – men and ideas, as well as money and goods. At a time when production and exports are our major economic problem, it may be that we can find useful parallels in those vigorous years.

CONTENTS:
The First Phase: 1815-1850
1. BRITAIN IN 1815
2. THE FORCES OF CHANGE
3. CONSTITUTIONAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS
4. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL REFORMS
The Second Phase: 1851-1874
5. MID-VICTORIANISM
6. THE AGE OF PALMERSTON
7. THE AGE OF MACHINERY
8. THE AGE OF PRESTIGE AND EXPANSION
The Third Phase: 1875-1914
9. THE GROWTH OF THE MODERN STATE
10. THE DEMAND FOR SOCIAL SECURITY
11. THE NEW IMPERIALISM
12. VICTORIAN ENGLAND IN RETROSPECT