Thomas Hardy and History

Fred Reid is Emeritus Reader in History at Warwick University, UK. His publications include James Keir Hardie:  the Making of a Socialist and In Search of Willie Patterson: a Scottish Soldier in the Age of Imperialism. He has written on the rights of visually impaired people in European labour markets.

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION: APPROACHES TO HARDY AND HISTORY.- CHAPTER 2 The Liberal Anglican idea of history.- CHAPTER 3 Horace Moule and 'the evils of our era'.- CHAPTER 4 Walter Bagehot and the writing of history.- CHAPTER 5 Essays and Reviews: Frederick Temple and Baden Powell.- CHAPTER 6 Auguste Comte.- CHAPTER 7 George Drysdale and the Radical Hardy.- CHAPTER 8 John Stuart Mill.- CHAPTER 9 The Poor Man and the Lady.- CHAPTER 10 Desperate Remedies and Under the Greenwood Tree.- CHAPTER 11 The Franco-Prussian War.- CHAPTER 12 Satire and Romance: A Pair of Blue Eyes.- CHAPTER 13 'Lead kindly light': Satire and History in Far from the Madding Crowd .- CHAPTER 14 Hardy and Patriotism.- CHAPTER 15 Crisis of Civilisation.- CHAPTER 16 Meliorism in The Mayor of Casterbridge and The Woodlanders .- CHAPTER 17 Stopping Wedding Guests.- CHAPTER 18 LAST WORD.- FURTHER READING.

"In Thomas Hardy and History Fred Reid effectively takes on the role of historian of such repressed voices in relation to the historical and political valences of Hardy's fiction. ... Thomas Hardy and History communicates a range of significant new and original insights which readers of his work will certainly wish to ponder." (Karin Koehler, Hardy Society Journal, Vol. 13, 2017)

“In Thomas Hardy and History Fred Reid effectively takes on the role of historian of such repressed voices in relation to the historical and political valences of Hardy’s fiction. … Thomas Hardy and History communicates a range of significant new and original insights which readers of his work will certainly wish to ponder.” (Karin Koehler, Hardy Society Journal, Vol. 13, 2017)