Author: Tobias Harper Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 019257809X Category : History Languages : en Pages : 264
Book Description
In the twentieth century, the British Crown appointed around a hundred thousand people - military and civilian - in Britain and the British Empire to honours and titles. For outsiders, and sometimes recipients too, these jumbles of letters are tantalizingly confusing: OM, MBE, GCVO, CH, KB, or CBE. Throughout the century, this system expanded to include different kinds of people, while also shrinking in its imperial scope with the declining empire. Through these dual processes, this profoundly hierarchical system underwent a seemingly counter-intuitive change: it democratized. Why and how did the British government change this system? And how did its various publics respond to it? This study addresses these questions directly by looking at the history of the honours system in the wider context of the major historical changes in Britain and the British Empire in the twentieth century. In particular, it looks at the evolution of this hierarchical, deferential system amidst democratization and decolonization. It focuses on the system's largest-and most important-components: the Order of the British Empire, the Knight Bachelor, and the lower ranks of other Orders. By creatively analysing the politics and administration of the system alongside popular responses to it in diaries, letters, newspapers, and memoirs, Tobias Harper shows the many different meanings that honours took on for the establishment, dissidents, and recipients. He also shows the ways in which the system succeeded and failed to order and bring together divided societies.
Author: Matthew J. Lord Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1000382400 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 139
Book Description
This book examines the relationship between concepts of heroic "gallantry," as projected by the British honours system, and the sociocultural, political, military and international transitions of the supposed Sixties "cultural revolution." In so doing, it considers how a conservative, hierarchical and state-orientated concept both evolved and endured during a period of immense change in which traditional assumptions of deference to elites were increasingly challenged. Covering the period often defined as "The Long Sixties," from 1955–79, this study concentrates on four distinct transitions undergone by both state and non-state gallantry awards, including developments within the welfare state, class and gender discrimination, counterinsurgency and decolonisation. It ultimately sheds fresh light upon the importance of postwar decades to the continued evolution of concepts of gallantry and heroism in British culture using a range of underexplored government and media archives. It will be of interest to scholars, students and general researchers of heroism in modern Britain, the Sixties revolution, postwar military history and both the social and political evolution of British honours, decorations and medals.
Author: Ellena Matthews Publisher: Manchester University Press ISBN: 1526162113 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 178
Book Description
Home front heroism investigates how civilians were recognised and celebrated as heroic during the Second World War. Through a focus on London, this book explores how heroism was manufactured as civilians adopted roles in production, protection and defence, through the use of uniforms and medals, and through the way that civilians were injured and killed. This book makes a novel contribution to the study of heroism by exploring the spatial, material, corporeal and ritualistic dimensions of heroic representations. By tracing the different ways that home front heroism was cultivated on a national, local and personal level, this study promotes new ways of thinking about the meaning and value of heroism during periods of conflict. It will appeal to anyone interested in the social and cultural history of Second World War as well as the sociology and psychology of heroism.
Author: Karen Fox Publisher: ANU Press ISBN: 1760465011 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 296
Book Description
The first detailed history of imperial and national honours in Australia, Honouring a Nation tells the story of the honours system’s transformation from instrument of imperial unity to national institution. From the extension of British honours to colonial Australasia in the nineteenth century, through to Tony Abbott’s revival of knighthoods in the twenty-first, this book explains how the system has worked, traces the arguments of its supporters and critics, and looks both at those who received awards and those who declined them. Honouring a Nation brings to life a long history of debate over honours, including wrangles over State rights, gender imbalances in honours lists, and the emergence and hardening of the Labor/Liberal divide over British awards, illuminating issues that are still part of Australian life—and of the honours system—today. The history of the honours system is equally the history of the nation, revealing who Australians were, what they have become, what they value, and the things that have unified and divided them. ‘National honours are a fraught recognition of merit. They beg many questions: who decides, why some people are recognised, and others ignored. Honours provide a window to the soul of the nation and invite us to consider who we really are and what we value. These are big issues to ponder. Karen Fox provides many of the answers in this timely, lively and important book.’ — Julianne Schultz AM FAHA, Emeritus Professor Media and Culture, Griffith University ‘Give Karen Fox a gong: for distinguished service to Australian culture in recognition of her authoritative yet entertaining account of how a supposedly egalitarian country embraced knighthoods, OAs and other baubles.’ — Richard White, Associate Professor at the University of Sydney and author of Inventing Australia ‘Karen Fox has written an intelligent, incisive and intriguing account of how Australians have acknowledged and elevated their fellow citizens, from the founding of the first colony to the present day … a work packed with insights about the ever-shifting determinants of social hierarchy, individual merit and public esteem … a thoroughly stimulating read.’ — Stuart Ward, Head of the Saxo Institute, University of Copenhagen ‘At last, a definitive account of the Australian honours system, from the First Fleet to 2021. Honours serve as a prism through which to view imperial strategies, federal rivalries and partisan, class-based and gender politics, with many scandals and controversies along the way. Karen Fox has given us a book that is both topical and compelling on evolving national identity and honours as a symbol of exclusion or inclusion.’ — Marian Sawer AO, Emeritus Professor, The Australian National University
Author: John MacKenzie Publisher: Yale University Press ISBN: 0300268815 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 451
Book Description
A compelling history of British imperial culture, showing how it was adopted and subverted by colonial subjects around the world As the British Empire expanded across the globe, it exported more than troops and goods. In every colony, imperial delegates dispersed British cultural forms. Facilitated by the rapid growth of print, photography, film, and radio, imperialists imagined this new global culture would cement the unity of the empire. But this remarkably wide-ranging spread of ideas had unintended and surprising results. In this groundbreaking history, John M. MacKenzie examines the importance of culture in British imperialism. MacKenzie describes how colonized peoples were quick to observe British culture—and adapted elements to their own ends, subverting British expectations and eventually beating them at their own game. As indigenous communities integrated their own cultures with the British imports, the empire itself was increasingly undermined. From the extraordinary spread of cricket and horse racing to statues and ceremonies, MacKenzie presents an engaging imperial history—one with profound implications for global culture in the present day.
Author: Lara Kriegel Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 1108842224 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 365
Book Description
Rescuing the Crimean War from the shadows, Lara Kriegel demonstrates the centrality of a Victorian war to the making of modern Britain.
Author: Erik Linstrum Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0197572030 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 329
Book Description
Analyzing the period after 1945 when uprisings against colonial rule broke out across the world, Age of Emergency (Oxford University Press), focuses on how violence was experienced in the lives of ordinary people in imperial Britain. Using various historical records including letters, television, newspapers, novels, and more, Linstrum uncovers the violent torture, executions, and gruesome punishments the community faced. Throughout his writing, Linstrum demonstrates the significance of war beyond the fight between soldiers, and the ways in which war encroaches on all aspects of life.
Author: Ed Owens Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN: 1399406507 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 211
Book Description
The British monarchy has been through turbulent times of late. Rocked by scandal and strife, and without it seems a clear plan for the future following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, we have been left wondering: what happens next? Nothing seems certain. Will the monarchy survive with its continuing echoes of an Imperial past? Will young people - disenchanted with the political status quo - find the ritual and practice of the monarchy quite so mesmerising as previous generations have done? What might a republican Britain look like? Ed Owens argues that the monarchy must embrace reform and transform itself radically. No more private jets while preaching about the importance of the environment; no more secrecy obscuring royal influence in high places; and no more hangers on enjoying grace-and-favour homes. A major slimming down is essential. And it's time the family archives were opened. All these issues will have a direct effect on the common good of the nation as it tries to reinvent itself as a modern working democracy, and endeavours to equip itself for the coming decades. Ed Owens situates this critical moment of royal transition in its historical context in order to set out a vision for monarchy that is future-proof, but which would also see the crown play an integral role in the evolution of 21st-century Britain.
Author: John Howard Publisher: Universitat de València ISBN: 849134957X Category : Literary Collections Languages : en Pages : 438
Book Description
This first critical biography of radio broadcaster, stage director, and auteur filmmaker Michael Cacoyannis examines his prolific body of work within the socio-political context of his times. Best known as a bold modernist for triple-Oscar-winner ‘Zorba the Greek’, Michael likewise was hailed as an astute classicist for his inventive interpretations of Euripides. Working across several continents and languages, he forwarded feminist, humanist, and pacifist agendas, as he further innovated crafty LGBT narratives of unprecedented artistry and complexity. Despite intense persecution during the Cold War red scare and lavender scare, his casts and crews of frugal cosmopolitans critiqued racism, militarism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia. Avoiding censorship, job loss, and jail, Michael thereby laid foundations for the 1990s new queer cinema and set the stage for empowering dramas of socio-economic justice in the third millennium. Over his long life and productive career, Michael exposed and espoused the vital truths up his sleeve.
Author: Tobias Harper
Author: Matthew J. Lord
Author: Ellena Matthews
Author: Karen Fox
Author: John MacKenzie
Author: Lara Kriegel
Author: Erik Linstrum
Author: John Scott
Author: Ed Owens
Author: John Howard