The writing of this book was supported by a Research Fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust and a period of study leave granted by the University of Leicester. I am most grateful to both institutions for giving me this opportunity.

The ideas expressed here have taken shape partly through discussion with sharp-minded colleagues and friends. I would particularly like to thank Dave Edwards, Terry Hopkinson, Deirdre O'Sullivan, Marilyn Palmer, Mark Pluciennik and Richard Thomas. Outside my own institution, conversations with John Robb, Andrew Fleming, Chris Cumberpatch and Eleanor Casella have been very useful. Dave Edwards and Marilyn Palmer both read and commented on the entire text at a time when they had plenty of better things to do – I owe you each a large gin. The readers for Cambridge University Press – Matthew Johnson, Peter Mandler and Mary Beaudry – provided very helpful suggestions and comments. Peter Mandler especially gave a historian's view on the text, and his recommendations have helped immeasurably. Many thanks to Simon Whitmore and Beatrice Rehl at Cambridge University Press for being such helpful editors. Finally to Mark Pluciennik I am infinitely indebted for the moral, intellectual and logistical support without which this book would not have been written; thanks also to my two older children Rachel and Adam for their patience, and to the youngest one, Gregory, whose arrival proved a powerful enforcer of deadlines.

All figures are copyright of the author, except where otherwise stated.