Jerry Z. Muller

The journal Victorian Studies recently invited submissions for a special issue, entitled “Victorian Sexualities.” “Topics,” stated the call for papers, “may include (but certainly are not limited to) Victorian homosexualities; the erotics of dress and cross-dressing; sexuality and city . . . . Continue Reading »

Gertrude Himmelfarb’s The Idea of Poverty: England in the Early Industrial Age, published in 1984, examined the debate on poverty in British thought from Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations of 1776 through the mid-nineteenth century. The book was remarkable for its scope. It followed . . . . Continue Reading »

We begin with the observations of a social critic of cultural conservative leanings—let his name, for the moment, remain a mystery—as he casts his gaze upon the cultural influence of the market. New forms of capitalist economic organization, he notes, have led to the disappearance of . . . . Continue Reading »