“The Faith Society”? Quantifying Religious Belonging in Edwardian Britain, 1901–1914

Historians disagree about how the Edwardian era fits into the jigsaw of secularisation in Britain. Was it a time of religious crisis (Keith Robbins, Hugh McLeod) or a faith society (Callum Brown)? This article subjects the debate to quantitative scrutiny by examining the available statistics of church attendance and church membership/affiliation for 1901–1914. A mixed picture is reported, with elements of sacralisation and secularisation co‐existing. Although churchgoing was already in relative and absolute decline, one‐quarter of adults (disproportionately women) still worshipped on any given Sunday and two‐fifths at least monthly. Moreover, hardly anybody failed to be reached by a rite of passage conducted on religious premises. Only 1 per cent professed no faith and just over one‐half had some reasonably regular and meaningful relationship with organised religion in terms of church membership or adherence. For children, perhaps nine‐tenths attended Sunday school, however briefly.     

Nomadic identities and socio-spatial competence: making sense of post-smoking selves

The reconstruction of smoking as an unhealthy practice has given rise to a discursive field in which some people shy away from smoking identities that are tainted with the attendant notions of dirt and disgust and also from overt external control over individual behaviour. In many cases individuals demonstrate social competence by quitting smoking. Social and secret smokers challenge both binary understandings of smoking identities (smoker/non-smoker) as well as the addiction model that is prevalent in explaining smoking. Social and secret smoking are conceptualised as nomadic identities that are situationally constructed and deconstructed, but always with the potential to slip into one or other identity more permanently. While these identities remain ambivalent and appear to manage their own risks, they provide us with a window into the body as a potentiality rather than a problem and thus move us beyond a compliance/resistance schema. The paper concludes that ex-, secret and social smoking involve different types of socio-spatial competence and, in order to make sense of this, we utilise both Foucauldian and Deleuzo-Guattarian frameworks.     

Book reviews

Thomas Dublin and Kathryn Kish Sklar, eds., ‘Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1830–1930,’ http://vvomhist.Binghamton.edu.

Leonard L. Richards, The Slave Power: The Free North and Southern Domination, 1780‐1860 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2000). Pp.xii + 228. $39.95 (hardback); $19.95 (paperback). ISBN 0 8071 2537 7; 0 8071 2600 4.

Timothy S. Huebner, The Southern Judicial Tradition: Southern Judges and Sectional Distinctiveness, 1790–1890 (Athens: University of Georgia Press), 1999. Pp. xiii 4‐ 263. $45.00 (hardback). ISBN 0 252 0634 0.

Glenn C. Altschuler and Stuart M. Blumin, Rude Republic: Americans and their Politics in the Nineteenth Century (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2000). Pp.xii + 316. $35.00 (hardback). ISBN 0 6910 0130 8.

Joseph G. Dawson III, Doniphan's Epic March: The 1st Missouri Volunteers in the Mexican War (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1999). Pp. xii + 325. $35.00 (hardback). ISBN 0 7006 0956.

Julie Roy Jeffrey, The Great Silent Army of Abolitionism: Ordinary Women in the Antislavery Movement (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998). $45.00 (hardback); $18.95 (paperback). Pp.xii + 311. ISBN 0 8078 2436 4; 0 8078 4741 0.

Paul Goodman, Of One Blood: Abolitionism and the Origins of Racial Equality (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1998). Pp.xxi + 303. $35.00 (hardback). ISBN 0 5202 0794 7.

Mark E. Neely Jr, Southern Rights: Political Prisoners and the Myth of Confederate Constitutionalism (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999). Pp.vii + 212. $35.00 (hardback). ISBN 0 8139 1894 4.

John C. Willis, Forgotten Time: The Yazoo‐Mississippi Delta after the Civil War (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2000). Pp. xiv + 239. $55.00 (hardback); $19.50 (paperback). ISBN 0 8139 1971 1; 0 8139 1982 7.     

Keeping the Spiritual Home Fires Burning: Religious Belonging in Britain during the First World War

The religious impact of the First World War on the home front in Britain is assessed in terms of churchgoing and church membership and affiliation. Church attendance rose briefly at the start of the war but fell away thereafter in the Protestant tradition, accelerating a pre-existing trend, which was not reversed after 1918. The disruption caused by the war to the everyday life of organized religion probably accounts for the decrease, rather more than loss of faith. Church membership also declined during the war in the Anglican and mainstream Free Churches, albeit not for other denominations and faiths, but it temporarily revived after the war. This was not the case for non-member adherents and Sunday scholars whose reduction was more continuous.     

Review of Books

GORDON MAXWELL. A Battle Lost: Romans and Caledonians at Mons Graupius. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press; dist., New York: Columbia University Press, 1990. Pp. viii, 138. $15.50 (us), paper. Reviewed by A.R. Birley

ANDRÉ WINK. Al-Hind: The Making of the Indo-Islamic World: Volume I: Early Medieval India and the Expansion of Islam 7th–11th Centuries. Leiden: EJ. Brill, 1990. Pp. viii, 396. $82.50 (us). Reviewed by D.N. MacLean

PETER EDBURY. The Kingdom of Cyprus and the Crusades, 1191–1374. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Pp. xvii, 241. $44.50 (us). Reviewed by James A. Brundage

THEO HOLZAPFEL. Papst Innozenz III., Philipp II. August König von Frankreich und die englisch-welfische Verbindung 1198–1216. New York: Peter Lang, 1991. Pp. 334. $68.00 (us). Reviewed by H.E J. Cowdrey

DIRK H.A. KOLFF. Naukar, Rajput and Sepoy: The Ethnohistory of the Military Labour Market in Hindustan, 1450–1850. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990. Pp. xv, 217. $49.50 (us). Reviewed by Richard B. Barnett

KIRKPATRICK SALE. The Conquest of Paradise: Christopher Columbus and the Columbian Legacy. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1990. Pp. 451. £17.95; Reviewed by G.V. Scammell

DAVID HENIGE. In Search of Columbus: The Sources for the First Voyage. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1991. Pp. xiii, 359. $24.95 (us). Reviewed by G.V. Scammell

DANIEL GOFFMAN. Izmir and the Levantine World, 1550–1650. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1990. Pp. xv, 236. $25.00 (us). Reviewed by Salih ÖZbaran

ALBERT HOURANI. Islam in European Thought. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Pp. xi, 199. $34.50 (us). Reviewed by Michael Curtis.

HEDLEY BULL, BENEDICT KINGSBURY, and ADAM ROBERTS, eds. Hugo Grotius and International Relations. New York: The Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press, 1990. Pp. xi, 331. $96.50 (CDN). Reviewed by Cornelius F. Murphy, Jr.

MICHAEL ROBERTS. From Oxenstierna to Charles XII: Four Studies. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Pp. ix, 202. $49.50 (us). Reviewed by David Kirby

JACK VERNEY. The Good Regiment: The Carignan-Salières Regiment in Canada 1665–1668. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1991. Pp. ix, 222. $34-95 (CDN). Reviewed by Jay Cassel.

SERGEI SOLOVIEV. History of Russia: Volume XLVIII: The Rule of Catherine the Great: War, Diplomacy and Domestic Affairs, 1771–1774, ed. and trans. George E. Munro. Gulf Breeze, Fla.: Academic International Press, 1991. Pp. xix, 339. $33.00 (us). Reviewed by John T. Alexander.

W.J. WOOD. Battles of the Revolutionary War: 1775–1781. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1990. Pp. xxxii, 315. $24.95 (us). Reviewed by Paul David Nelson.

ECKHART HELLMUTH, ed. The Transformation of Political Culture: England and Germany in the Late Eighteenth Century. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. Pp. ix, 597. $132.00 (CDN). Reviewed by Daniel Moran.

ROBERT D. BILLINGER, JR. Metternich and the German Question: States' Rights and Federal Duties, 1820–1834. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1991. Pp. 230. $35.00 (us). Reviewed by Lawrence J. Flockerzie.

RICHARD J.B. BOSWORTH and SERGIO ROMANO, eds. La politica estera italiana, 1860–1985. Bologna: II Mulino, 1991. Pp. 360. L. 38,000. Reviewed by Alan Cassels.

WILLIAM CARR. The Origins of the Wars of German Unification. London and New York: Longman, 1991. Pp. xiv, 239. £8.99, paper. Reviewed by Ulrich Trumpener.

ALLAN MITCHELL. The Divided Path: The German Influence on Social Reform in France after 1870. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1991. Pp. xx, 410. $45.00 (us). Reviewed by Patricia E. Prestwich.

ULRICH HERBERT. A History of Foreign Labor in Germany, 1880–l980: Seasonal Workers/Forced Laborers/Guest Workers, trans. William Templer. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1990. Pp. xvi, 310. $48.95 (us). Reviewed by Robert G. Moeller.

MICHAEL FRöHLICH. Von Konfiontation zur Koexistenz: Die deutsch-englischen Kolonialbeziehungen in Afrika zwischen 1884 und 1914. Bochum: Universitätsverlag Dr N. Brockmeyer, 1990. Pp. 371. DM 54,80. Reviewed by Woodruff D. Smith.

RHODRI WILLIAMS. Defending the Empire: The Conservative Party and British Defence Policy 1899–1915. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1991. Pp. x, 306. $35.00 (us). Reviewed by Keith Neilson

FRANK FIELD. British and French Writers of the First World War: Comparative Studies in Cultural History. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Pp. xii, 280. $39.50 (us). Reviewed by Paul Delany.

ANATOLE C. J. BOGACKI. A Polish Paradox: International and the National Interest in Polish Communist Foreign Policy 1918–1948. Boulder, Col.: East European Monographs; dist., New York: Columbia University Press, 1991. Pp. xvi, 320. $37.00 (us). Reviewed by David Mayers.

ALAN SHARP. The Versailles Settlement: Peacemaking in Paris, 1919. London: Macmillan, 1991. Pp. xi, 243. £35.00. Reviewed by Gordon Martel.

NICHOLAS R. CLIFFORD. Spoilt Children of Empire: Westerners in Shanghai and the Chinese Revolution of the 1920s. Hanover, N.H. and London: University Press of New England, 1991. Pp. xvi, 361. $45.00 (us). Reviewed by Parks M. Coble.

ROBERT GORDON KAUFMAN. Arms Control during the Pre-Nuclear Era: The United States and Naval Limitation between the Two World Wars. New York: Columbia University Press, 1991. Pp. viii, 289. $40.00 (us). Reviewed by Francis M. Carroll.

ALFREDO JOSÉ SCHWARCZ. Y a pesar de todo …: Losjudios de habla alemana en la Argentina. Buenos Aires: Grupo Editor Latinoamericano, Colecciín Estudios Politicos y Sociales, 1991. Pp. 317. No Price Available; Reviewed by Ronald C. Newton

CARLOTA JACKISCH. El nazismo y los refugiados alemanes en la Argentina, 1933– 1945. Buenos Aires: Editorial de Belgrano, 1989. Pp. 306. No Price Available; Reviewed by Ronald C. Newton

OLGA ELAINE ROJER. Exile in Argentina, 1933–1945: A Historical and Literary Introduction.. New York: Peter Lang, 1989. Pp. 250. $49.50 (US). Reviewed by Ronald C. Newton

NEIL V. SALZMAN. Reform and Revolution: The Life and Times of Raymond Robins. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1991. Pp. xiv, 472. $35.00 (us). Reviewed by Bruce S. Greenawalt.

EDWARD M. BENNETT. Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Search for Victory: American-Soviet Relations, 1939–1945. Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources, 1990. Pp. xxvii, 207. $40.00 (us), cloth; $13.95 (us), paper. Reviewed by Sean Dennis Cashman.

DAVID F. SCHMITZ and RICHARD D. CHALLENER, eds. Appeasement in Europe: A Reassessment of US Policies. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1990. Pp. xxiii, 166. $3795 (us). Reviewed by D. Cameron Watt

JOHN CARVER EDWARDS. Berlin Calling: American Broadcasters in Service to the Third Reich. New York: Praeger, 1991. Pp. x, 238. $21.95 (us). Reviewed by Justus D. Doenecke

TERRY COPP and BIIL MCANDREW. Battle Exhaustion: Soldiers and Psychiatrists in the Canadian Army, 1939–1945. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1990. Pp. x, 249. $29.95 (CDN). Reviewed by Robert. J.T. Joy.

ROBERT BOH N, JÜRGEN EL VERT, HAIN REBAS, MICHAEL SALEWSKI, eds. Neutralität und totalitäre Aggression: Nordeuropa und die Großmächte im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1991, Pp. xii, 435. DM 128; Reviewed by Martin kitchen.

IZIDORS VIZULIS. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939: The Baltic Case. New York: Praeger, 1990. Pp. vi, 176. $38.95 (us). Reviewed by Martin Kitchen.

P.M.H. BELL. John Bull and the Bear: British Public Opinion, Foreign Policy and the Soviet Union 1941–1945. London: Edward Arnold, 1990. Pp. x, 214. $45.00 (us). Reviewed by Gordon W. Morrell.

AVIEL ROSHWALD. Estranged Bedfellows: Britain and France in the Middle East during the Second World War. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. Pp. xii, 315. $63.00 (CDN). Reviewed by Michael Fry.

HENRY ROUSSO. The Vichy Syndrome: History and Memory in France since 1944, trans. Arthur Goldhammer. Cambridge, Mass, and London: Harvard University Press, 1991. Pp. xii, 384. $37.50 (us). Reviewed by Robert J. Young.

JOSEPH SMITH, ed. The Origins of NATO. Exeter, UK: University of Exeter Press, 1990. Pp. xvi, 173. £6.95. Reviewed by S. Victor Papacosma

PETER L. HAHN. The United States, Great Britain, and Egypt, 1945–1956: Strategy, Diplomacy in the Early Cold War. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1991. Pp. x, 359. $37.50 (us); Reviewed by Michael J. Cohen.

DAVID R. DEVEREUX. The Formulation of British Defence Policy towards the Middle East, 1948–56. London: Macmillan, 1990. Pp. xi, 241.,£35.00. Reviewed by Michael J. Cohen.

JAMES BARBER and JOHN BARRATT. South Africa's Foreign Policy: The Search for Status and Security 1945–1988. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990. Pp. ix, 398. $54.50 (us), cloth; $16.95 (us), paper. Reviewed by Ritchie Ovendale.

CHESTER J. PACH, JR. Arming the Free World: The Origins of the United States Military Assistance Program, 1945–1050. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1991. Pp. x, 322. $34.95 (us). Reviewed by Steven L. Rearden.

JOEL J. SOKOLSKY. Seapower in the Nuclear Age: The United States and NATO 1949–80. London and New York: Routledge, 1991. Pp. xi, 221. £35.00. Reviewed by Geoffrey Till.

LESTER D. LANGLEY. Mexico and the United States: The Fragile Relationship. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1991. Pp. xvi, 138. $27.95 (us), cloth; $13.95 (us), paper. Reviewed by Don M Coerver.

MARTIN S. NAVIAS. Nuclear Weapons and British Strategic Planning, 1955–1958. New York: The Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press, 1991. Pp. 269. $76.50 (us). Reviewed by John Baylis.

GLEN BALFOUR-PAUL. The End of Empire in the Middle East: Britain's Relinquishment of Power in the Last Three Arab Dependencies. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Pp. xxiii, 278. $49.50 (us). Reviewed by Michael B. Bishku.

SANTOSH MEHROTRA. India and the Soviet Union: Trade and Technology Transfer. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990. Pp. xvi, 243. $49.50 (us). Reviewed by Colin Lawson.

JAMES MAYALL and ANTHONY PAYNE, eds. The Fallacies of Hope: The Post Colonial Record of the Commonwealth Third World. Manchester: Manchester University Press; dist., New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991. Pp. 218. $59.95 (us). Reviewed by Robin W. Winks.

BARRY H. STEINER. Bernard Brodie and the Foundations of American Nuclear Strategy. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1991. Pp. xvi, 367. $40.00 (us). Reviewed by Edward Rhodes.

R.B. SMITH. An International History of the Vietnam War. Volume III: The Making of a Limited War 1965–66. London: Macmillan, 1991. Pp. xiv, 490. £4500. Reviewed by John M. Carland.

BRIAN VANDEMARK. Into the Quagmire: Lyndon Johnson and the Escalation of the Vietnam War. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. Pp. xvi, 268. $22.95 (us); Reviewed by Gary R. Hess.

ELIZABETH JANE ERRINGTON and B.J.C. MCKERCHER, eds. The Vietnam War as History. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1990. Pp. xiv, 196. $45.00 (us); Reviewed by Gary R. Hess.

ELIZABETH NORMAN. Women at War: The Story of Fifty Military Nurses who Served in Vietnam. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990. Pp. x, 211. $36.95 (us), cloth; $14.95 (us), paper. Reviewed by Gary R. Hess.

RICHARD A. MELANSON. Reconstructing Consensus: American Foreign Policy since the Vietnam War. London: Macmillan, 1991. Pp. viii, 248. £9.99. Reviewed by Lawrence Aronsen.

F. ROBERT HUNTER. The Palestinian Uprising: A War by Other Means. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991. Pp. xx, 292. $24.95 (us). Reviewed by Ibrahim Abu-Lughod.

JONATHAN HASLAM. The Soviet Union and the Politics of Nuclear Weapons in Europe, 1969–87. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1990. Pp. xv, 227. $13.95 (us). paper. Reviewed by Paul Buteux

HENRY T. BERNSTEIN. And None Afraid: Soviet-Western Suspicion and Trusting from Red October to Glasnost Dialogue. Oxford: Baardwell, 1991. Pp. 240. £ 19.95. Reviewed by J.L Black.

CLAYTON R. NEWELL. The Framework of Operational Warfare. London and New York: Roudedge, 1991. Pp. xiv, 186. £25.00. REviewed by K.E. Hamburger

PAUL KENNEDY, ed. Grand Strategies in War and Peace. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1991. Pp. x, 228. $25.00 (us). Reviewed by Gordon A. Craig.

MICHAEL HOWARD. The Lessons of History. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1991. Pp. 217. $27.50 (us). Reviewed by M.L. Dockrill.