Summary
A perfect introduction to the story of the British monarchy for readers aged eight and over, including special features on Welsh and Scottish monarchs and a chronicle of important events around the world that occured during each monarch's reign.
Starting with the Saxon kings of the fifth century, the book travels chronologically through history exploring the achievements of consecutive monarchs, from King John's signing of Magna Carta in 1215 to Elizabeth II's stabilizing role as head of the Commonweath during a period when many countries were gaining their independence.
Born in Italy, Mary Douglas was educated at Oxford University and began her career as a civil servant in 1943. Her first field research was carried out in what was then the Belgian Congo and she taught at Oxford and the University of London before moving to the United States in 1977. Purity and Danger (1966) is an essay about the logic of pollution beliefs, suggesting that ideas about dirt and disorder outline and reinforce particular social orders. Her other essays exploring the implicit meanings of cultural symbols follow a similar Durkheimian format. Her recent interests have turned to analysis of risk behavior and cross-cultural attitudes about food and alcohol.
(Bowker Author Biography)
