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Cultural explanations of major social and economic developments are seductively attractive but most unreliable. Anti-industrial and anti-commercial attitudes fostered by public schools and the older universities, and the pursuit of aristocratic and gentry lifestyles by businessmen, are the leading social and cultural explanations of Britain's apparent economic decline since the 1870s. On the other hand there have been confident claims to have overturned the traditional view that wealthy merchants and industrialists aspired to acquire landed estates and gentry status, and to have shown that gentlemanly values were actually economically advantageous to Britain because she never was a primarily industrial economy. This book subjects these interpretations to the test of the actual evidence, and firmly re-establishes the conventional wisdom that new money characteristically seeks to acquire land and a place in the country, an aspiration that continues to be manifest today. Aristocratic and gentry cultures have not, however, been consistently anti-industrial or anti-business. Many businessmen-turned-landowners did not turn their backs on industry, but founded business dynasties; many hereditary landowners disregarded any prejudice against ‘trade’ and became entrepreneurs. Gentrification has indeed occurred on a large scale in the last two hundred years, but has had no discernible effect one way or the other on Britain's economic performance.

This study of hunting and poaching, both of which played significant roles in England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, explores symbolic and covert forms of protest, and adds to the knowledge of the interaction between aristocratic and popular culture in early-modern England. Deer hunting was an integral part of aristocratic and gentry culture. It afforded not only recreation, but also served as a symbolic substitute for war and rebellion. Deer hunting provided the occasion for adolescent rites of passage, displays of power and feats of daring, the pursuit of aristocratic feuds, and competition for forest and game offices. The distinction between lawful and unlawful hunting remained unclear, for the game laws were obscure and difficult to enforce, and tumultuous hunting was frequently a reaction to changes in land use and conflicting use-rights.

Situated in the centre of the Saronic Gulf, the island of Aegina has long been recognized as a powerful force in the cultural, political, economic, and strategic history of fifth-century Greece. The island is well known as the original home of the magnificent Doric architecture and sculpture of the Temple of Aphaia and of many of the patrons of the epinician poets Pindar and Bacchylides; with a thriving maritime economy and an effective navy, Aegina was powerful enough to challenge the security and ambitions of its neighbour Athens, by whom it was reduced to a kleruchy at the start of the Peloponnesian War. Many of the fascinating aspects of the island within the history and culture of fifth-century Greece have, however, been studied separately, rendering a rounded view of the significance of the island, and the significance of the island's choral lyric poetry, difficult. This volume aims to redress the balance by suggesting ways in which the different aspects of the island's make-up can fruitfully be explored together. Eleven chapters by established and younger scholars examine different aspects of the island's nature, and factors which link them: mythological genealogies, economics, cult song, religion, athletics, epinician poetry, inter-state networking, aristocratic politics and culture, art history, and the views of the island offered by classical historiography. The interdisciplinary nature of the volume aims to provide new insights into the diversity and significance of classical Greek history and culture, as well as being suggestive for future research on the cultural and political diversity of classical Greece.