PETER WIDDOWSON was one time Professor of English at the University of Gloucestershire. He was a well-known critic whose publications for students include A Readers' Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory (with Peter Brooker, Longman, 1997), Literature (Routledge, 1999) and Graham Swift (Northcote House, 2004).

• Brief ContentsDetailed ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroduction: Premises and ProceduresHow to Use the BookAbbreviations Used Throughout1500-1649: The English Reformation and Renaissance1650-1699: Commonwealth and Restoration1700-1789: The Augustan Period1790-1829: The Romantic Period1830-1899: The Victorian Period1900-1939: World War I and the Modernist Period1940-1959: World War II and the Post-War Period1960-1979: The Nineteen-Sixties and Seventies1980-2000: The Contemporary PeriodWorks Used for ReferenceAlphabetical Index of British Authors.

'Peter Widdowson has produced an eminently reliable, rigorous and above all readable contextualized chronology of the past 500 years of literary and cultural history. The book offers fascinating and illuminating possibilities of 'time travel' for the student and general reader alike.' - Professor Elleke Boehmer, Nottingham Trent University 'There is no single reference source which clearly and coherently indicates relevant historical and cultural contexts and intertexts...I would hope to see [this book] on students' shelves alongside a decent dictionary, Brewer's and Roget's Thesaurus.' - Jo Gill, University of Exeter 'Accessible but scholarly - a very useful contextualising study for students.' - Dr Elspeth Graham, Liverpool John Moores University