The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen

Warfare, Constitutions and the Making of the Modern World

The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen
Linda Colley
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NZ$ 45.00
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NZ$ 36.00
Hardback
h240 x 162mm - 512pg
11 Mar 2021 UK
International import eta 7-19 days
9781846684975
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Starting not with the United States, but with the Corsican constitution of 1755, The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen moves through every continent, disrupting accepted narratives. Both monarchs and radicals play a role, from Catherine the Great of Russia, with her remarkable Nakaz, to Sierra Leone' s James Africanus Horton, to Tunisia' s Khayr-al-Din, a creator of the first modern Islamic constitution. Throughout, Colley demonstrates how constitutions evolved in tandem with warfare, and how they have functioned to advance empire as well as promote nations, and worked to exclude as well as liberate. Whether reinterpreting Japan' s momentous 1889 constitution, or exploring the significance of the first constitution to enfranchise all adult women on Pitcairn Island in the Pacific in 1838, this is one of the most original global histories in decades.
One of the most exciting historians of her generation, but also one of the most interesting writers of non-fiction around. -- William Dalrymple * Guardian * Linda Colley is a historian of her time; but she is also a completely original intelligence -- R. F. Foster A book of stupendous range and originality, The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen delivers an ambitious new account of the making of the modern world. Linda Colley has an unparalleled ability to bring together the histories of ideas, politics, and people, and to distill prodigious learning into a narrative that is at once incisively argued and an immense pleasure to read. Rippling with fresh interpretations, startling connections, and remarkable stories, this is a masterpiece of global history by one of the greatest historians working today. " -- Maya Jasanoff, Harvard University In this ambitious work, Linda Colley seeks to rethink the "long" nineteenth century through the prism of the many constitutions it produced. Written with characteristic vigor and clarity, her book shows the continued validity of "big picture" history in asking searching questions and providing unexpected answers. -- Sanjay Subrahmanyam, author of * Europe' s India, Words, People, Empires, 1500-1800 * The purest crystallization of modern politics is the written constitution. Despite its lofty ideals, the document' s many guises across the world repeatedly failed to meet their stated aspirations. Remarkable therefore are our centuries of persistent belief in constitutions. With her characteristic skill, erudition, and creativity, Linda Colley, one of our greatest historians, explains this seeming conundrum through a history of the durability of human hope, war, and political imagination. This is a monumentally important book. -- Alan Mikhail, author of * God' s Shadow: Sultan Selim, His Ottoman Empire, and the Making of the Modern World * In this bold, lucid, and wide-ranging book, Linda Colley reveals the international dialogue that created our age of constitutions. She insightfully embeds the emergence of new modes of governance in the global interplay of mass literacy with mass warfare. Colley helps us understand the true origins and growing importance of constitutional government. -- Alan Taylor, author of * Thomas Jefferson' s Education * A marvelous tour with a brilliant guide through world history in search of the early adopters of written constitutions --a thoroughly enjoyable read! -- Mary Bilder, author of * Madison' s Hand: Revising the Constitutional Convention * From the Mediterranean to Japan, a dazzling, beautifully-written and surprising tale to discover the deep connections between the transformations of modern warfare and the rise of constitutions across the globe. A must read. -- M' hamed Oualdi, Sciences Po, Paris Rarely is a history so satisfyingly broad in outlook while avoiding abstraction and generalisation. It is rich, enjoyable, enlightening and imaginative. Colley takes you on intellectual journeys you wouldn' t think to take on your own, and when you arrive you wonder that you never did it before. -- David Aaronovitch * the Times *
Linda Colley is Shelby M. C. Davis 1958 Professor of History at Princeton University and a Fellow of the British Academy. Among her seven books, are the award-winning Britons: Forging the Nation, the highly-acclaimed The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh: A Woman in World History, and Acts of Union and Disunion for Profile, which was based on a 15-part BBC Radio series.
Status: Active
ISBN-13: 9781846684975
Published: 11 Mar 2021
Published In: United Kingdom
Imprint: Profile Books
Publisher: Profile Books
Format: Hardback
Height: 240mm
Width: 162mm
Spine: 44mm
Weight: 898g
Pages: 512

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