The Age of Asa

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xii

   PDF

2. Introduction: Asa Briggs and Public Life in Britain since 1945

   1. Introduction: Asa Briggs and Public Life in Britain since 1945

      • Miles Taylor

      Pages 1-20

3. History

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 21-21

      PDF

   2. The Interconnectedness of Things: Asa Briggs and Social History

      • Rohan McWilliam

      Pages 23-45

   3. A Little Bit of a Victorian? Asa Briggs and Victorian Studies

      • Martin Hewitt

      Pages 46-78

   4. Victorian Capitalists and Middle-Class Formation: Reflections on Asa Briggs’ Birmingham

      • Francesca Carnevali, Jennifer Aston

      Pages 79-89

   5. Asa Briggs and the Remaking of Australian Historiography

      • Frank Bongiorno

      Pages 90-107

   6. Asa Briggs and the Emergence of Labour History in Post-War Britain

      • John McIlroy

      Pages 108-141

4. Broadcasting

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 143-143

      PDF

   2. From the Daily Mail to the BBC: Communications in Britain, c. 1896–1922

      • James Thompson

      Pages 145-164

   3. Broadcasting Carries On! Asa Briggs and the History of the Wartime BBC

      • Siân Nicholas

      Pages 165-183

   4. Asa and the Epochs: The BBC, the Historian, the Institution and the Archive

      • Jean Seaton

      Pages 184-209

5. Universities

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 211-211

      PDF

   2. Back to Yorkshire: ‘Asia’ Briggs at Leeds, 1955–1961

      • Malcolm Chase

      Pages 213-224

   3. Asa Briggs and the University of Sussex, 1961–1976

      • Matthew Cragoe

      Pages 225-247

   4. Asa Briggs and the Opening Up of the Open University

      • Daniel Weinbren

      Pages 248-266

   5. From Worcester to Longman: Devising the History of the Book

      • James Raven

      Pages 267-287

6. Back Matter

   Pages 288-311

   PDF

Asa Briggs has been a prominent figure in post-war cultural life - as a pioneering historian, a far-sighted educational reformer, and a sensitive chronicler of the way in which broadcasting and communication more generally have shaped modern society. He has also been a devoted servant of the public good, involved in many inquiries, boards and trusts. Yet few accounts of public life in Britain since the Second World War include a discussion or appreciation of his influential role. This collection of essays provides the first critical assessment of Asa Briggs' career, using fresh research and new perspectives to analyse his contribution and impact on scholarship, the expansion of higher education at home and overseas, and his support and leadership for the arts and media more generally. The online bibliography of Asa Briggs' publications which accompanies the book is available on the The Institute of Historical Research website here.

• Historiography
• Universities
• Victorian studies
• Urban history
• Social history
• Media history
• historiography
• history
• social history

• University of York, UK

  Miles Taylor

Jennifer Aston, University of Oxford, UK Frank Bongiorno, Australian National University, Australia David Cannadine, Princeton University, USA Francesca Carnevali, University of Birmingham, UK Malcolm Chase, University of Leeds, UK Matthew Cragoe, University of Sussex, UK Martin Hewitt, University of Huddersfield, UK John McIlroy, Middlesex University, UK Rohan McWilliam, Anglia Ruskin University, UK Siân Nicholas, Aberystwyth University, UK James Raven, University of Essex, UK Jean Seaton, University of Westminster, UK and is the Official Historian of the BBC, UK James Thompson, University of Bristol, UK Daniel Weinbren, The Open University, UK

Policies and ethics