{"title":"Boydell Studies In Rural History","description":"\u003cp\u003eDelve into the rich tapestry of rural life through the Boydell Studies in Rural History series. From medieval farming to modern countryside challenges, explore insightful perspectives on Britain's evolving landscape.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"real-agricultural-revolution-book-paul-brassley-9781837651108","title":"The Real Agricultural Revolution","description":"An investigation into farming practices throughout a period of seismic change.  WINNER of the British Agricultural History Society's 2022 Thirsk Prize WINNER of the 2022 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Award   \"This meticulously researched book gives a detailed and authoritative history of agricultural change in the second half of the twentieth century. The book skilfully weaves together the hitherto underexplored individual returns of the Farm Management Survey with oral histories of the farmers who enacted change on the ground to offer an incisive account of the complex technological, political and cultural developments which gave rise to some of the greatest changes in English farming history. It will stand as the key reference point for those with an interest in the history of agricultural change in Britain.\" Professor Mark Riley, University of Liverpool  At the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 British agriculture was largely powered by the muscles of men, women, and horses, and used mostly nineteenth-century technology to produce less than half of the country's temperate food. By 1985, less land and far fewer people were involved in farming, the power sources and technologies had been completely transformed, and the output of the country's agriculture had more than doubled. This is the story of the national farm, reflecting the efforts and experiences of 200,000 or so farmers and their families, together with the people they employed. But it is not the story of any individual one of them. We know too little about change at the individual farm level, although what happened varied considerably between farms and between different technologies.   Based on an improbably-surviving archive of Farm Management Survey accounts, supported by oral histories from some of the farmers involved, this book explores the links between the production of new technologies, their transmission through knowledge networks, and their reception on individual farms. It contests the idea that rapid adoption of technology was inevitable, and reveals the unevenness, variability and complexity that lay beneath the smooth surface of the official statistics.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49752389714193,"sku":"NGR9781837651108","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52135844774161,"sku":"NLS9781837651108","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52755734724881,"sku":"NIN9781837651108","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1837651108.jpg?v=1750930108"},{"product_id":"agriculture-economy-and-society-in-early-modern-scotland-book-harriet-cornell-9781837650484","title":"Agriculture, Economy and Society in Early Modern Scotland","description":"Showcases the latest research on Scotland's rural economy and society.  Early modern Scotland was predominantly rural. Agriculture was the main occupation of most people at the time, so what happened in the countryside was crucial: economically, socially and culturally. The essays collected here focus on the years between around 1500 and 1750. This period, although before the main era of agricultural \"improvement\" in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, was nevertheless far from static in terms of agrarian development. Specific topics addressed include everyday farming practices; investment; landlords, tenants and estate management; and the cultural context within which agriculture was \"imagined\". The disastrous famine of 1622-23 is analysed in detail. The volume is completed by a comprehensive survey of recent historiography, setting agricultural history in its broader context.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51055071625489,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51055074148625,"sku":"NIN9781837650484","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52618492772625,"sku":"NLS9781837650484","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1837650489.jpg?v=1750767704"},{"product_id":"farming-the-north-sea-coast-900-2000-book-piet-van-cruyningen-9781837652624","title":"Farming the North Sea Coast, 900-2000","description":"\"A brilliant and provocative synthesis of a thousand years of coastal farming.\" Tim Soens, University of Antwerp, Belgium.    The fascinating story of how the North Sea coast has been farmed is ever changing. Long before the industrial revolution, the inhospitable fens and marshes of the low-lying coastal wetlands on both sides of the Sea had been transformed into one of the most productive agricultural regions in Europe. Agriculture in the coastlands reached its apogee during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as is witnessed by the many impressive farm buildings established then. However, more recently, it has become clear that lowland farming and even the physical existence of the lowlands are in jeopardy, owing to rising sea levels and problems of drainage.  This book offers a history of farming and water management on the North Sea coast, assessing the forces driving - and inhibiting - agricultural progress more broadly. It examines the ways in which farmers in the past dealt with the two main constraints on their decision-making: the natural environment and the human environment of institutional rules and customs regulating behaviour.  It looks in particular at how setbacks were overcome, and how farming practices were improved which then raised the money with which to finance the maintenance of dykes, canals, and sluices.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51627369955601,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51627370250513,"sku":"NGR9781837652624","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51627370381585,"sku":"NIN9781837652624","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52530202116369,"sku":"NLS9781837652624","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1837652627.jpg?v=1751153996"},{"product_id":"farm-accounts-in-rural-europe-c-1700-1914-book-nathalie-joly-9781837651009","title":"Farm Accounts in Rural Europe, c.1700-1914","description":"Analyses how book-keeping and estate accounting transformed attitudes and practices in farm management over three centuries of European history.   From the eighteenth until well into the twentieth century, an ideal model developed of a farmer as accountant, who would record economic transactions meticulously; tidy book-keeping was regarded as the basis of sound management, and only those who accurately dealt with finances would survive and thrive. It is clear that this happened in both theory and practice, with growing numbers of farmers (men and women) keeping increasingly formalized records of their businesses during this period; a wide range of valuable documentation, originating from large estates, small sharecroppers, tenant and owner-farmers alike, has survived.   Drawing on that rich body of sources, this book examines book-keeping and account practices in farm management across Europe, with case studies ranging from Westphalia and the Rhineland to France and Switzerland, over three centuries. It considers who kept these records and their motivations, how practices changed and developed across the period, and in what ways and to what extent accounts and accounting influenced the development of agriculture. It also examines the role of farmers' own organisations and government in encouraging higher standards of accounting.   The Introduction and chapters 7 and 9 are available as Open Access under the Creative Commons licence  CC BY-NC-ND.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51628959465745,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51628959727889,"sku":"NGR9781837651009","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52530207621393,"sku":"NLS9781837651009","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52755561578769,"sku":"NIN9781837651009","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1837651000.jpg?v=1750802371"},{"product_id":"real-agricultural-revolution-book-paul-brassley-9781783276356","title":"The Real Agricultural Revolution","description":"WINNER of the British Agricultural History Society's 2022 Thirsk Prize WINNER of the 2022 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Award   An investigation into farming practices throughout a period of seismic change.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52083640664337,"sku":"GOR013231481","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52474607599889,"sku":"NLS9781783276356","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52755133726993,"sku":"NIN9781783276356","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781783276356.jpg?v=1756786328"},{"product_id":"landless-households-in-rural-europe-1600-1900-book-jun-christine-fertig-9781783277223","title":"Landless Households in Rural Europe, 1600-1900","description":"First comparative study of landless households brings out their major role in European history and society.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52452668440849,"sku":"NLS9781783277223","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781783277223.jpg?v=1759365497"},{"product_id":"agricultural-knowledge-networks-in-rural-europe-1700-2000-book-yves-segers-9781783277124","title":"Agricultural Knowledge Networks in Rural Europe, 1700-2000","description":"An examination of how farming expertise could be shared and extended, over four centuries.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52453788057873,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52453788877073,"sku":"NLS9781783277124","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781783277124.jpg?v=1759369128"},{"product_id":"tithe-war-in-england-and-wales-1881-1936-book-john-bulaitis-9781837651870","title":"The Tithe War in England and Wales, 1881-1936","description":"\u003cb\u003eBrings to life a fascinating page of history in a scholarly but highly readable account of the \"tithe war\".\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Co-WINNER: 2025 Thirsk Prize (British Agricultural History Society)\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e During the 1930s, farming communities waged a campaign of \"passive resistance\" against Tithe Rentcharge, the modern version of medieval tithe. Led by the National Tithepayers' Association, farmers refused to pay the charge, disrupted auctions of seized stock and joined demonstrations to prevent action by bailiffs. The National Government condemned their \"unconstitutional action\", ruled out changes in the law and mobilised police to support the titheowners. Meanwhile, the Church of England and lay titheowners - including Oxford and Cambridge colleges, public schools and major landowners - sought to vindicate their right to tithe; in a particularly shameful episode, the Church established a secret company to buy taken produce and remove it from farms.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e This \"tithe war\" was fought outside farms, in the courts, in the press and in the wider arena of public opinion. It posed problems for the Church, legal system, and every political party; split the National Farmers' Union; and provided opportunities for the British Union of Fascists and other sections of the extreme right to cause disturbance.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Drawing on extensive archival research, accounts in local newspapers, and private papers, John Bulaitis traces the evolution of what has been described as this \"curious rural revolt\", from the late nineteenth century to its climax in 1936, when the Tithe Act brought an end to this form of tax.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52530218303761,"sku":"NLS9781837651870","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52778698834193,"sku":"NIN9781837651870","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781837651870.jpg?v=1763128275"},{"product_id":"coming-of-age-celebrations-on-welsh-landed-estates-book-shaun-evans-9781837650255","title":"Coming of Age Celebrations on Welsh Landed Estates","description":"The first comprehensive study of gentry coming of age celebrations, offering insights into the social and cultural dynamics of estate communities in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Wales.   \"Coming of age\" celebrations were landmark events in the annals of gentry families and for local society, marking the occasion when the heir or heiress to an estate attained their majority at the age of twenty-one, with an assumption that they would eventually inherit the land together with all the privileges and responsibilities attached to its proprietorship. Hundreds of these lively dynastic occasions were celebrated in Wales from the late eighteenth through the \"long\" nineteenth century, involving masses of participants in an array of public festivities; they provide fascinating evidence for understanding the social and cultural dynamics of estate communities in a rapidly changing environment.  This book provides the first comprehensive study of these events, examining their development, purpose and significance. It considers the role that gentry and aristocracy played in their communities, why landed estates were an integral part of Welsh society, and how they contributed to the character and experience of place, landscape and landowner-tenant relations. Overall, it offers a reassessment of still-prevalent interpretations of an anglicised, alien and absentee landowning elite bearing no connection with or consideration for Welsh communities, culture and consciousness in the two centuries prior to the mass sale and breakup of their country houses and estates in the early-mid twentieth century.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52614399033617,"sku":"NLS9781837650255","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52744917516561,"sku":"NIN9781837650255","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781837650255.jpg?v=1761521115"},{"product_id":"agricultural-modernisation-and-the-green-revolution-in-the-twentieth-century-wor-book-miguel-cabo-9781837653317","title":"Agricultural Modernisation and the Green Revolution in the Twentieth-Century World","description":"An overarching history of the origins, development, and application of agricultural innovation in the past, and of the paradigms and institutional frameworks in which they were developed throughout the twentieth century.   From the late nineteenth century onwards, rural societies and agrarian production across the world were profoundly transformed. Prior to the Second World War, technological innovations developed within an intensive organic framework and advanced largely in dialogue with existing producers. After the war, social engineering became the prevailing model in agricultural and rural policies almost everywhere. Modernisation was imposed from above, targeting so-called \"archaic\" or \"anti-modern\" peasants and farmers, who were pushed to produce ever-greater quantities of food, timber, and other raw materials through the expanded use of industrial and inorganic resources. Applied as a USA political programme in Asian, Latin American and African countries, this strategy became known as the \"Green Revolution\". Although it undermined rural societies and eroded the sustainability of agricultural production, it remained central to political agendas, leaving a difficult legacy for future generations.   This book analyses agrarian change and agricultural policies before and after 1945, highlighting the socio-economic and environmental consequences of these two very different periods in global agrarian history. Its diverse case studies span continents and political systems, considering topics from post-war reconstruction in the UK and Denmark to development policies in the Belgian Congo and post-fascist Ethiopia; from production projects in communist Hungary to agricultural transformations across the Southern Cone and India.  Chapter 6 is available as Open Access under the Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-ND","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53153038434577,"sku":"NLS9781837653317","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53187475243281,"sku":"NIN9781837653317","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781837653317.jpg?v=1771892405"},{"product_id":"tithe-war-in-england-and-wales-1881-1936-book-john-bulaitis-9781837653584","title":"The Tithe War in England and Wales, 1881-1936","description":"Brings to life a fascinating page of history in a scholarly but highly readable account of the \"tithe war\".   Co-WINNER: 2025 Thirsk Prize (British Agricultural History Society)   During the 1930s, farming communities waged a campaign of \"passive resistance\" against Tithe Rentcharge, the modern version of medieval tithe. Led by the National Tithepayers' Association, farmers refused to pay the charge, disrupted auctions of seized stock and joined demonstrations to prevent action by bailiffs. The National Government condemned their \"unconstitutional action\", ruled out changes in the law and mobilised police to support the titheowners. Meanwhile, the Church of England and lay titheowners - including Oxford and Cambridge colleges, public schools and major landowners - sought to vindicate their right to tithe; in a particularly shameful episode, the Church established a secret company to buy taken produce and remove it from farms.   This \"tithe war\" was fought outside farms, in the courts, in the press and in the wider arena of public opinion. It posed problems for the Church, legal system, and every political party; split the National Farmers' Union; and provided opportunities for the British Union of Fascists and other sections of the extreme right to cause disturbance.   Drawing on extensive archival research, accounts in local newspapers, and private papers, John Bulaitis traces the evolution of what has been described as this \"curious rural revolt\", from the late nineteenth century to its climax in 1936, when the Tithe Act brought an end to this form of tax.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53360396140817,"sku":"NLS9781837653584","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781837653584.jpg?v=1774939685"},{"product_id":"evolution-of-farming-in-burgundy-1700-1840-book-jeremy-hayhoe-9781837654963","title":"The Evolution of Farming in Burgundy, 1700-1840","description":"Traces the development of farming in the Burgundian flatlands of eastern France, looking at agricultural productivity, techniques, and the agronomic thinking of ordinary farmers.   How did French farmers feed a third more people at the end than at the beginning of the eighteenth century? While historians have demonstrated that a few areas of large farms in the fertile plains of northern France increased their level of production considerably, the idea that regions of small farms saw little improvement because peasants resisted innovation and prioritized subsistence over profit remains influential. This book, however, argues that, in responding to favorable prices and improved export opportunities, small peasant farmers brought about substantial production increases, with 1740-80 being a key period for growth.  Based on a novel source - probate auctions of standing grain - it shows that crop yields increased by about 50 per cent, while total grain production increased even more due to the planting of an increasing proportion of the fallow. Probate inventories also indicate other forms of improvement, such as an increase in animal feed production that then drove a substantial increase in dairy production. Growth did not, however, require the weakening of collective regulation of agriculture; this book demonstrates that communal rotation patterns and pasture rights persisted throughout the period studied. It also discusses the agronomic theories of ordinary farmers, revealing that peasants were aware of many of the ideas that circulated as part of the Agricultural Enlightenment in the eighteenth century.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53511252869393,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":53511253426449,"sku":"NGR9781837654963","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781837654963.jpg?v=1778192561"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/boydell-studies-in-rural-history-book-series.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}