This book examines the Great Exhibition as a decisive moment in the formation of a capitalist world picture. In so doing it foregrounds a vision of peace and progress which took hold of British society, within the Crystal Palace and beyond. It emphasizes too that this Victorian understanding of global order legitimized imperial ambition.

'Young's thought-provoking study succeeds in capturing the frictions, discontinuities and negotiations between one of the exhibition's abstract 'grand narratives' and the plurality of competing narratives which the heterogeneous material culture of the display inspired.' - ZAA

Autorentext
PAUL YOUNG is Lecturer in Victorian Literature and Culture at the University of Exeter, UK.

Inhalt
Introduction: The Millennial Dream The Great Family of Man Geography Made Easy Reorienting the World Pax Britannica Postscript: America, Anglobalization and the Great Exhibition Works Cited Index