A major new study of the marquês de Pombal, one of the most important figures in Portuguese history and one of the eighteenth century's most successful 'enlightened despots'.

This book is a clear and reliable introduction to the field of sociolinguistics.

Each book in this series is designed to make available to students important new work on key historical problems and periods that they encounter. Each volume, devoted to a central topic or theme, contains specially comisssioned essays from scholars in the relevant field. These provide an assessment of a particular aspect, pointing out areas of development and controversy and indicating where conclusions can be drawn or where further work is necessary, while an editorial introduction reviews the problem or period as a whole. In this text the contributors assess reform and reformers in late 18th century Europe, covering such topics as Catherine the Great, the Danish reformers, the Habsburg Monarchy and events in Spain and Italy.

Eighteenth-century Spain drew on the Enlightenment to reconfigure its role in the European balance of power. As its force and its weight declined, Spanish thinkers discouraged war and zealotry and pursued peace and cooperation to reconfigure the international Spanish Empire.

The Iberian World: 1450–1820 brings together, for the first time in English, the latest research in Iberian studies, providing in-depth analysis of fifteenth- to early nineteenth-century Portugal and Spain, their European possessions, and the African, Asian, and American peoples that were under their rule. Featuring innovative work from leading historians of the Iberian world, the book adopts a strong transnational and comparative approach, and offers the reader an interdisciplinary lens through which to view the interactions, entanglements, and conflicts between the many peoples that were part of it. The volume also analyses the relationships and mutual influences between the wide range of actors, polities, and centres of power within the Iberian monarchies, and draws on recent advances in the field to examine key aspects such as Iberian expansion, imperial ideologies, and the constitution of colonial societies. Divided into four parts and combining a chronological approach with a set of in-depth thematic studies, The Iberian World brings together previously disparate scholarly traditions surrounding the history of European empires and raises awareness of the global dimensions of Iberian history. It is essential reading for students and academics of early modern Spain and Portugal.

Efforts to ascertain the influence of enlightenment thought on state action, especially government reform, in the long eighteenth century have long provoked stimulating scholarly quarrels. Generations of historians have grappled with the elusive intersections of enlightenment and absolutism, of political ideas and government policy. In order to complement, expand and rejuvenate the debate which has so far concentrated largely on Northern, Central and Eastern Europe, this volume brings together historians of Southern Europe (broadly defined) and its ultramarine empires. Each chapter has been explicitly commissioned to engage with a common set of historiographical issues in order to reappraise specific aspects of 'enlightened absolutism' and 'enlightened reform' as paradigms for the study of Southern Europe and its Atlantic empires. In so doing it engages creatively with pressing issues in the current historical literature and suggests new directions for future research. No single historian, working alone, could write a history that did justice to the complex issues involved in studying the connection between enlightenment ideas and policy-making in Spanish America, Brazil, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain. For this reason, this well-conceived, balanced volume, drawing on the expertise of a small, carefully-chosen cohort, offers an exciting investigation of this historical debate.

Secularisation: New Historical Perspectives unveils an exciting range of case studies exploring emerging research in secularisation with an international outlook. Inspired by scholarship conducted by the Religious History Association, this collected volume questions the paradigm of secularisation by exploring its historical manifestations and making projections as to the future divide between religious life and the secular world. A must-read for anyone interested in events and personalities that shaped the religious landscape of the present, this volume contains meticulous historical research. It also presents a strong focus on the Southern Hemisphere, which is often largely absent in discussions of secularity. Topics covered here include schisms between secularism and Christianity in Australia and on a global scale; Jesuit frontier missions in Ibero-America; the publically religious displays of the Salvation Army; competition between church life and emerging recreational pursuits at the turn of the century; Joseph Fletcher’s contributions ethical secularity; the privileged place of Christianity within the Queensland educational system; notions of religiously justified violence amongst the ANZAC forces; and the ongoing debate between constitutional secularity and Christian nationhood in the United States of America from its foundation up until the present day. The latter part of the volume explores the secularisation paradigm as a cultural creation in its own right – an important consideration for any scholar in this field. To this end, the authors explore the mythic status of secularisation as a social and historical concept; question the validity of historical approaches to this discourse; explore whether or not definitions of ‘religion’ are too conservative to be workable; and pose the question of whether or not secular institutions like state museums are really what they claim to be. The role of religion in public life is a fascinating question to explore, and one that must be tackled via a truly international exploration of secularisation. So too must the inquisitive scholar consider the very nature of the terms employed in research. Secularisation: New Historical Perspectives is the perfect toolkit for such investigations.

The first volume of The Cambridge History of America and the World examines how the United States emerged out of a series of colonial interactions, some involving indigenous empires and communities that were already present when the first Europeans reached the Americas, others the adventurers and settlers dispatched by Europe's imperial powers to secure their American claims, and still others men and women brought as slaves or indentured servants to the colonies that European settlers founded. Collecting the thoughts of dynamic scholars working in the fields of early American, Atlantic, and global history, the volume presents an unrivalled portrait of the human richness and global connectedness of early modern America. Essay topics include exploration and environment, conquest and commerce, enslavement and emigration, dispossession and endurance, empire and independence, new forms of law and new forms of worship, and the creation and destruction when the peoples of four continents met in the Americas.

Countering the many claims that the best days of capitalism are over following the economic meltdown of 2008 onwards, this book provocatively argues that a new golden age of capitalism - or upwave - began around 2002, and despite the unstable markets in the western world of the past few years, this upwave will produce previously unseen levels of wealth creation during the next twenty years. Basing this theory on the commercialisation of new technologies and the growth of new markets, the author claims that these positive trends are key to economic recovery in the US, UK and Europe. It argues that the most serious problem facing some countries in the west is government debt and that macroeconomic policy is of limited use in flexible and adaptive economies, where innovation, entrepreneurship and private investment should be encouraged in a range of cities and city regions. This highly original book will interest those concerned with national economies, nation states and urban policy.

This volume of essays provides a fresh and innovative look at colonial trade and its impact on economic development in Europe. It is unique in its coverage of countries that are usually ignored, such as Denmark and Sweden, while also including in its chronology more than the 18th century alone.