{"product_id":"9781398513884-britains-brains","title":"The British Imagination","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA History of Ideas from Elizabeth I to Elizabeth II\u003cbr\u003eThe third in Peter Watson's spiritual trilogy, including THE GERMAN GENIUS and THE FRENCH MIND: a masterful and epic intellectual history of Britain\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the acclaimed author of \u003ci\u003eThe German Genius\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe French Mind\u003c\/i\u003e, a masterful journey through 500 years of British history\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The reign of Queen Elizabeth I ushered in an unprecedented age of exploration and discovery. It saw an island nation, hitherto a cultural backwater, begin for the first time to occupy a realm of innovation and imagination that had for centuries been the domain of China, India and the Arab nations of the Middle East.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e With England’s ‘gathering greatness’ asserted by a swashbuckling generation of merchant warriors and adventurers, and with the epic voyages of Magellan, Columbus, Vasco da Gama and Francis Drake charting the ‘great beyond’, it became clear that a fortuitous position on the edges of Europe and the Atlantic offered ever-wider imaginative horizons. Indeed, what came next is described by historian Peter Watson as ‘the greatest expansion of ideas and knowledge the world has ever seen.’\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe British Imagination\u003c\/i\u003e is a lively and deeply researched history that encompasses the five centuries that formed the contemporary mindset, from Francis Bacon and the first \u003ci\u003eSpectator\u003c\/i\u003e to Mary Wollstonecraft, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, James Clerk Maxwell and Maynard Keynes; from the Royal Society to the industrial revolution; and from the first New World landings to the eventual colonization of a quarter of the world by the reign of Elizabeth II. Are we still, Watson asks, even now, living in a British 'metaphysical empire'?\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Breathtaking in scope, embracing literature, science, art, religion, philosophy and politics, \u003ci\u003eThe British Imagination\u003c\/i\u003e offers a captivating and stimulating insight into the most influential personalities and ideas that have made a small island what it is today.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41793802436705,"sku":"9781398513884","price":20.17,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/stand_33623612.jpg?v=1744275275","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9781398513884-britains-brains","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}