John Mackinnon Robertson's Books

The Evolution of States

By: John Mackinnon Robertson

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The following treatise is an expansion, under a new title, of one originally published (1900) under the name of An Introduction to English Politics. Several friendly reviewers of that work objected, not unjustly, that its title was something of a misnomer, or at least an imperfect indication of its contents. It had, as a matter of fact, originated remotely in a lecture delivered as preliminary to a course on "Modern English Politicians" (from Bolingbroke to Gladstone), the aim of the prefatory address being to trace in older politics, home and foreign, general laws which should partly serve as guides to modern cases, or at least as preparation for their scientific study; while the main course dealt with modern political problems as they have arisen in the careers and been handled by the measures of modern English statesmen. It was that opening exposition, developed into an essay, and published as a series of magazine articles, that had been further expanded into this treatise, by way of covering the ground more usefully; and the original name is therefore retained as a sub-title. It is perhaps unnecessary to explain that the book makes no pretension to being a complete or systematic treatment of political history, or of political forms and theories. The object in view from the first has been, not the technical anatomy or documentary history of institutions, but the bringing into light of the ruling forces in all political life, ancient and modern alike. It seeks to help the reader to fulfil the precept of Montaigne: "Qu'il ne luy apprenne pas tant les histoires qu'à en juger." Since it was first written, there has been so much fresh sociological study of history that I need not repeat the justification originally offered for my undertaking. Alike as to ancient and modern history, the effort of scholars is now more and more towards comprehension of historic causation in terms of determining conditions, the economic above all; so much so that I have profited somewhat in my revision from various recent works, and might with more leisure have done so more fully. Revised as it is, however, the book may serve to expound views of history which are still not generally accepted, and to call in question fallacious formulas which seem to me still unduly common. On any view, much remains to be done before the statement of historic causation can reach scientific thoroughness; and it may well be that some of my theories will incur modification. All I claim for them is that they are made in the light of a study of the concrete process; and I am satisfied that fuller light is to be obtained only in that direction. In the end, doubtless, conflicts of historical interpretation will turn upon problems of psychology. A contemporary German expert of distinction, Prof. Lamprecht, in his able lectures on the problem What is History? (Eng. trans. 1905), lays it down that the main problem of every scientific history of mankind is the "deducing from the history of the most important communities of men the evolution of the breadth of consciousness"; and again that "the full historical comprehension of a single change or of a single phenomenon, with their historical significance, can only be acquired from the most general principles; that is to say, from the application of the highest universal-historical categories." If I understand Prof. Lamprecht aright, he here means simply that we properly understand the motivation of men in the past in terms of our own psychosis, conceived as in touch only with their data. This seems to me substantially sound. But on the other hand I doubt the utility of his apparent purpose of explaining modern historic developments in terms of special psychic changes or movements in communities, considered as forces. That way seems to lie reversion to the old and vain device of explaining the course of nations in terms of their "characters.

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Page Count

885

Publisher

Library of Alexandria

ISBN 10

1465504966

ISBN 13

9781465504968

Jesus in the Tide of Time

An Historical Study

By: John Ferguson

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Jesus in the Tide of Time

An Historical Study

By: John Ferguson

First published in 1990, Jesus in the Tide of Time considers the historical Jesus and studies the ways in which he has subsequently been regarded by different people in different cultures. The book examines the political, social, economic and religious background to Jesus’ life. It also looks at what is known about Jesus as a historical personality, and considers the use of symbolic figures by the early Christians to represent him. It highlights the attitude towards the person of Jesus as an indicator of the culture of the particular period and place throughout history, and questions whether different cultures, periods and individuals manufacture Jesus in their own image. Jesus in the Tide of Time will appeal to those with an interest in the history of Christianity, religious history, and social history.

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Page Count

229

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1000369420

ISBN 13

9781000369427

Andrew Lang

Writer, Folklorist, Democratic Intellect

By: John Sloan

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Andrew Lang

Writer, Folklorist, Democratic Intellect

By: John Sloan

In a remarkable literary career, Andrew Lang challenged the increasing specialism that accompanied the advance of modernity and science in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, authoring an extraordinary body of rigorous, scholarly works in the fields of social anthropology, folklore, Homeric studies, history, and religion, while simultaneously turning out novels, poems for periodicals, and inexhaustible columns of prose journalism to make money. He was widely regarded as one of the most influential men of letters and reviewers of his day. He was a founding member and later President of the Folklore Society, and, with his wife, helped transform the taste in children's literature with their anthologized fairy stories for young people. G. K. Chesterton, paying tribute on Lang's death in 1912 to the scale and diversity of his legacy to the humanities, compared him to a 'kind of Indian god with a hundred hands'. Drawing on a wealth of unpublished correspondence and new sources of information, this first full biography of Lang documents in compelling detail his double existence as a scholar and journalist, the intellectual impact of his cross-disciplinary approach to learning and writing, and the critical controversies he courted as a writer and thinker to advance knowledge in the human sciences. The book also throws new light on Lang's personal life: on the uncomfortable legacy of his grandfather, whose notorious part in the Sutherland Clearances earlier in the century left its mark on the family; on the enduring influence on him of his early Scottish education and its generalist traditions of learning; and on his friendships with fellow writers, among them Robert Louis Stevenson, Henry James, Rider Haggard, Edmund Gosse, Rhoda Broughton, and William Henley. The result is a fascinating portrait of a man who lived one of the most productive lives in literature, sought to make knowledge available to everyone, and bridged, as no other, the university and the literary world, the proverbial 'Grub Street and the ivory tower'.

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Page Count

305

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0192866877

ISBN 13

9780192866875

British Social Theory

Recovering Lost Traditions before 1950

By: John Scott

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British Social Theory

Recovering Lost Traditions before 1950

By: John Scott

A unique contribution to discussions of social theory, this book counters the argument that no social theory was ever produced in Britain before the late twentieth century. Reviewing a period of 300 years from the seventeenth century to the mid-twentieth century, it sets out a number of innovative strands in theory that culminated in powerful contributions in the classical period of sociology. The book discusses how these traditions of theory were lost and forgotten and sets out why they are important today.

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Page Count

227

Publisher

SAGE

Published Date

ISBN 10

152645534X

ISBN 13

9781526455345

The Culture of the Publisher's Series, Volume 2

Nationalisms and the National Canon

By: John Spiers

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The Culture of the Publisher's Series, Volume 2

Nationalisms and the National Canon

By: John Spiers

This volume explores problems concerning the series, national development and the national canon in a range of countries and their international book-trade relationships. Studies focus on issues such as the fabrication of a national canon, and on the book in war-time, the evolution of Catholic literature, imperial traditions and colonial libraries.

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Page Count

233

Publisher

Springer

Published Date

ISBN 10

0230299393

ISBN 13

9780230299399

Book's by John Mackinnon Robertson

The Evolution of States

The Evolution of States

Jesus in the Tide of Time

Jesus in the Tide of Time

Andrew Lang

Andrew Lang

British Social Theory

British Social Theory

The Culture of the Publisher's Series, Volume 2

The Culture of the Publisher's Series, Volume 2

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