Title: Mike Huggins. Horse Racing and British Society in the Long Eighteenth Century.
Abstract: Horse Racing and British Society in the Long Eighteenth Century gives readers the overwhelming impression of just how important horse races, and equine culture in general, were to the people of Britain. Horse racing touched on most aspects of people’s rural lives, such as how they defined and developed a sense of belonging to a community, how they spent their money, and what occupations predominated within an area. The sport also provides a window into how many negotiated class and gender boundaries, handled political debates, and engaged with religious controversies within a multispecies setting. Horses, in other words, were at the center of human life in a way that scholars are only beginning to recognize. As Mike Huggins correctly points out, there is scant scholarship dedicated to racing pastimes—a scholarly scarcity Huggins works to fix with enthusiasm. The first full-length study of racing’s development in England during the long eighteenth century, Horse Racing is written by a leading scholar in leisure studies—a meritorious expertise that makes itself felt throughout the book. Based upon extensive archival and print research, the book is split into seven independent chapters that set out to paint a comprehensive picture of what the British racing world was like. The book initially sets the scene with a general introduction to the subject, before moving on to think about how horse races influenced society in general. It is here that Huggins makes it abundantly clear just how important races were to the social and cultural lives of all classes and genders throughout the eighteenth century. Indeed, as Huggins aptly illustrates, equestrian sport was at the heart of all rural life and was situated alongside other popular entertainments and activities, including theater, hunt meets, conspicuous displays of wealth and status, criminality, and copious feasting. From here Huggins takes the reader into the world of gambling, the most well-studied subject of the book.
Publication Year: 2020
Publication Date: 2020-06-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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