The Peoples of the British Isles

Across public discourse, in the media, politics, many branches of academic inquiry, and ordinary daily interactions, we spend a lot time talking about race: race relations, racial violence, discrimination based on race, racial integration, racial progress. It is fair to say that questions about race have vexed our social life. But for all we speak about race, do we know what race is? Is it a social construct or a biological object? Is it a bankrupt holdover from atime before sophisticated scientific understanding and genetics, or can it still hold up in biological, genetic, and other types of research? Most fundamentally, is race real?In this book, four prominent philosophers and race theorists debate how best to answer these difficult questions, applying philosophical tools and the principles of social justice to cutting-edge findings from the biological and social sciences. Each presents a distinct view of race: Sally Haslanger argues that race is a socio-political reality. Chike Jeffers maintains that race is not only political but also, importantly, cultural. Quayshawn Spencer pursues the idea that race is biologicallyreal. And Joshua Glasgow argues that either race is not real, or if it is, it must be real in a way that is neither social nor biological. Each offers an argument for their own view and then replies to the others. Woven together, the result is a lively debate that opens up numerous ways ofunderstanding race. Above all, it is call for sophisticated and principled discussion of something that significantly permeates our lives.The new edition of The Peoples of the British Isles presents the history of the peoples of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales from prehistoric times to the present. Through the frameworks of cultural, intellectual, and social history, the authors examine the conflicts and commonalities among the people of these four nations. The book focuses throughout on the lives of real people-how they made a living, how they organized their society and institutions, how they related to each other, and how they understood themselves and their world. This new, combined volume covers the period following the Revolution of 1688 and the coronation of William of Orange through present day Britain. Heyck and Veldman deftly explore the British Isles' changing place in the world, and the implications of those changes for its people.