Bibliograph

The gun, the ship and the pen, warfare, constitutions and the making of the modern world, Linda Colley

Type

Label

The gun, the ship and the pen, warfare, constitutions and the making of the modern world, Linda Colley

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

The gun, the ship and the pen

Nature of contents

bibliography

Responsibility statement

Linda Colley

Sub title

warfare, constitutions and the making of the modern world

Summary

Starting not with the United States, but with the Corsican constitution of 1755, The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen moves through every continent, disrupting accepted narratives. Both monarchs and radicals play a role, from Catherine the Great of Russia, with her remarkable Nakaz, to Sierra Leone's James Africanus Horton, to Tunisia's Khayr-al-Din, a creator of the first modern Islamic constitution. Throughout, Colley demonstrates how constitutions evolved in tandem with warfare, and how they have functioned to advance empire as well as promote nations, and worked to exclude as well as liberate. Whether reinterpreting Japan's momentous 1889 constitution, or exploring the significance of the first constitution to enfranchise all adult women on Pitcairn Island in the Pacific in 1838, this is one of the most original global histories in decades

Classification