Review

General Books

David Cannadine has chosen a most complex topic for analysis. It is easy to speak of class and to write of class. The difficulties arise in figuring out what we might mean by class, and then in detailing what that might mean in society. Cannadine states that the rest of the world believes the British to be obsessed with class. That seems clear. But to mail down what class is, how it is delineated, who profits by it, etc., is a Sisyphean labor. Perhaps, as with the finer or baser emotions, class can be described, but not defined. Cannadine notes that through the centuries, British writers have tended to use the same three models to describe class in society. These three models portray class as "the hierarchical view of society as a seamless web; the triadic version with upper, middle and lower collective groups; and the dichotomous, adversarial picture, where society is sundered between "'us and them'" (p. 20). Cannadine notes that these distinctions are used in a very fluid manner, as people move from one perspective to another, depending on prevalent mood and attitude. In the succeeding chapters, the author provides a chronology of class in Britain, weaving into his narrative the many changes in the way class is both viewed and used. With the starting point of the eighteenth century, Cannadine continues his analysis of the uses and abuses of class to the present. In each of the chapters, he reconstructs both the time period and the prevailing thoughts and feeling about class. Cannadine contrasts British and American society and notes that "of all the communities the British have created across the seas and around the world, America is unique in having so explicitly rejected the hierarchical social structure and the deferential social attitudes of the colonial metropolis" (p. 55).	1
The most precarious years for British society were those after the French Revolution, when the traditional structures were threatened by foreign ideologies, and, at the same time, the language of class became politicized. Indeed, this was a time of upheaval in British society. In the midst of agricultural and industrial changes, a population explosion, and pockets of misery and discontent, contemporary writings detail fear, bewilderment, and confusion over "the classes," their roles and duties. But, without a successful revolution to bring down the government and destroy, or at least damage the status quo, the British class system has endured. It has not endured unchanged, however, and its continuation has been subjected to new interpretations. While Margaret Thatcher described focusing on class as communistic and perceived it as a threat to society, John Major was able to speak of a "classless society," without great social divides and "one where everybody would try to be nicer to each other" (p. 185). One of Cannadine's most insightful points is in his discussion of the current reaction against Marxist precepts of class. In a turnabout from the years in which some historians viewed class as a crucial part of the matrix of society, now the very idea of class has become passé, overworked, or perhaps just boring. Surely the truth lies somewhere in the middle of the range, not at either end.	2
Advanced students of British history or sociology could use this volume profitably. It is both thought provoking and illuminating, for class is a subject that both begs for and defies interpretation. One of the strengths of his work is the detailed notes and index, comprising some 96 pages. Readers familiar with Cannadine's previous books will not be disappointed by this volume--it is both charming and well written.	3
South Plains College, Lubbock   Deborah Wiggins

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