Access To History: Tories, Unionists & Conservatives, 1815-1914 by Duncan Watts

Access to History

by Duncan J. Watts

This work is an examination of the changing nature of the Conservative Party and the causes and consequence of such change in the period 1815 to 1914. The book considers the contributions of individuals such as Peel, Disraeli and Chamberlain, as well as the main policies pursued by them. It also studies the concept of party, the growth in party organization, changing principles and approach.The book also features summary diagrams and advice for students on note taking and examination skills. It also identifies and considers the main areas of historiographical controversy. Each chapter is organized into the same four thematic introduction; personalities and policies; organizational developments; and assessment.

Genres: History, Politics

Paperback

First published June 1, 1994

About the author

Duncan Watts is a principal researcher at Microsoft Research and a founding member of the MSR-NYC lab. From 2000-2007, he was a professor of Sociology at Columbia University, and then, prior to joining Microsoft, a principal research scientist at Yahoo! Research, where he directed the Human Social Dynamics group . He has also served on the external faculty of the Santa Fe Institute and is currently a visiting fellow at Columbia University and at Nuffield College, Oxford.

His research on social networks and collective dynamics has appeared in a wide range of journals, from Nature, Science, and Physical Review Letters to the American Journal of Sociology and Harvard Business Review. He is also the author of Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age (W.W. Norton, 2003) and Small Worlds: The Dynamics of Networks between Order and Randomness (Princeton University Press, 1999).

He holds a B.Sc. in Physics from the Australian Defence Force Academy, from which he also received his officer’s commission in the Royal Australian Navy, and a Ph.D. in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from Cornell University. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Matthew Kraus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used this book to help compliment my main reading for the Pitt to Peel module in my A-Level History. The book goes into a lot of detail with regard to the Liverpool ministry and other areas like Robert Peel's time at the Home Office. Would really recommend this book to anyone studying this for history, whether at GCSE or A-Level, as extra reading.

[Georgina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was a tad boring, but was certainly revealing of the early Tory party, in that it proved wrong many of my preconceptions of the early Tory party as being wholly for the upper classes. Particularly through Robert peel, who certainly introduced the Tory party to more liberal ideas, by aiding workers and extending the franchise.