Geographies of England: The North-South Divide, Material and Imagined

by Edited by Alan R. H. Baker , Mark Billinge

• ISBN13: 9780521173254
• ISBN10: 0521173256
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-07-21
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

To what extent has a North-South divide been a structural feature of England's geography during the last millennium and to what extent has it been especially associated with, and recognized during, particular periods in the past? These are the central questions addressed in this pioneering 2004 exploration of the history of a fundamentally geographical concept. Six essays treating different historical periods in time are integrated by their common concern with two geographical questions: first, to what extent is it possible for us to detect a material or tangible North-South divide in England in those periods in terms of regional differences in, for example, population, economy, society and culture; and, secondly, how important was the idea of such a divide to the geographical imaginations of contemporaries? A concluding essay by the editors reviews the social construction of England's geography and history and the significance of the North-South divide as a cultural metaphor.

Table of Contents

Material and imagined geographies of England

The contemporary debate over the North-South divide: images and realities of regional inequality in late-twentieth-century Britain

Distressed times and areas: poverty, polarisation and politics in England, 1918-1971

Industry and identity: the North-South divide and the geography of belonging, 1830-1918

Divided by a common language: North and South, 1750-1830

South, North and nation: regional differences and consciousness in an integrating realm, 1550-1750

North-South dichotomies in England, 1066-1550

Cultural constructions of England's geography and history

Index

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