A New History of the English Public Library: Intellectual and Social Contexts, 1850–1914 by Alistair Black (1996)
A New History of the English Public Library: Intellectual and Social Contexts, 1850–1914 by Alistair Black. London: Leicester University Press, 1996. 353 p. This blog is a condensed version of my review that appeared originally as “In review: the new history for public libraries,” Epilogue; Canadian Bulletin for the History of Books, Libraries, and Archives 11, 2 (1996): 27–35 published by Dalhousie University. ------------------------------------------------- Alistair Black recently published an important book on public library history in England. His timing is apt because it appears when speculation and pessimism about the prospect for library history exists. To distinguish his new history, Black has used a theoretical perspective and model for public library development in the Victorian-Edwardian period and presented his ideas using a non-narrative historical mode. As well, this New History explores the dimensions of the two library histories: history-as-event (the actual past) a...