Thomas William Heyck (PhD, University of Texas at Austin) is professor of history at Northwestern University. The author of four books and numerous articles, Professor Heyck has also written The Transformation of Intellectual Life in Victorian England.

In three concise volumes, The Peoples of the British Isles: A New History presents the history of all of the people of the British Isles England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales from prehistoric times to the present. Through the frameworks of cultural, intellectual, and social history, the authors examine the conflicts, contrasts, and commonalities among four different peoples and their cultures while recognizing that people of all social levels, women as well as men, deserve the attention of students of history.

Volume three covers historic developments in the British Isles from 1870 to the present and traces the erosion of Victorianism and the subsequent rise of modernism by highlighting economic, intellectual, and social histories in addition to political history. Major themes include:

· Contraction of British industrial power and the shift of the economic structure to finance and services

· Heightening class conflict in the 1920s followed by blurring of class boundaries in the 1960 s

· Effect of two world wars on British economy, society, politics, and culture

· Devolution of power from the centralized British state to assemblies in Scotland and Wales

· Independence of the Irish Republic and continued conflict in Northern Ireland