Recent debates about the definition of national identities in Britain, along with discussions on the secularisation of Western societies, have brought to light the importance of a historical approach to the notion of Britishness and religion. This book explores anti-Catholicism in Britain and its Dominions, and forms part of a notable revival over the last decade in the critical historical analysis of anti-Catholicism. It employs transnational and comparative historical approaches throughout, thanks to the exploration of relevant original sources both in the United Kingdom and in Australia and Canada, several of them untapped by other scholars. It applies a 'four nations' approach to British history, thus avoiding an Anglocentric viewpoint.

Writes on British identities with the perspective of a researcher trained in the French historiographical tradition Explores the worldviews of ultra-Protestant societies that imagined a common British identity beyond the oceans Offers an examination of the secularization of religious prejudices in the late Victorian and Edwardian eras

Autorentext

Geraldine Vaughan is Senior Lecturer in Modern British History at the University of Rouen, France.

Inhalt

1. 'Things would Be a Thousand Times Worse'.- 2. A Global Network: Ultra-Protestant Societies Throughout the British World.- 3. Constitutional Anti-Catholicism and Britishness.- 4. No Popery! Theologico-Political Anti-Catholicism.- 5. Socio-National Anti-Catholicism.- 6. The Twilight of Anti-Catholicism?.