Download or read book Defining the Victorian Nation written by Catherine Hall and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2000-05-25 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Defining the Victorian Nation offers a fresh perspective on one of the most significant pieces of legislation in nineteenth-century Britain. Hall, McClelland and Rendall demonstrate that the Second Reform Act was marked by controversy about the extension of the vote, new concepts of masculinity and the masculine voter, the beginnings of the women's suffrage movement, and a parallel debate about the meanings and forms of national belonging. Fascinating illustrations illuminate the argument, and a detailed chronology, biographical notes and a selected bibliography offer further support to the student reader.