British History Compared A Bibliography

Abstract

This bibliography includes the titles of books and essays in which aspects of English or British history are subjected to international comparison. It does not include anthologies, which merely offer an accumulation of single country studies, thus leaving systematic comparisons to the reader. Nor does it contain studies on (cultural) transfer and perception, works dealing with transnational entanglements, or with global developments related to Great Britain. Literature in these areas has grown to such an extent that it has become an independent research genre in need of its own special documentation. The following list mostly contains titles in English, French and German. Most of these have landed on the desk of the compiler in the course of nearly 40 years of researching and teaching British history. This not only explains the focus on economic, social and cultural history themes, but also the excessively high proportion of German language works. Furthermore, the lack of balance reflects different research interests of German and British historiography. German historians have placed great emphasis on comparative methods since the 19th century, sometimes even describing them as the "royal path" of modern historiography. In doing so, they remained committed to the guiding categories of pioneer and follower well into the 20th century and attempted to trace historical learning processes. British historians, on the other hand, were used to considering their country's interactions with the global empire, with a particular focus on the relations of centre and periphery. Although comparative studies were also sometimes carried out in this context, they remained an exception. This also applies to British-European comparisons. Although Europe lay on the other side of the English Channel, it was (and still is) regarded as "overseas" in British historiography just like the other continents.