Invasions: Fears and Fantasies of Imagined Wars in Britain, 1871-1918

Invasions is an ambitious, new and authoritative study of one of the defining cultural products of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. By the outbreak of war in 1914 invasion-scare fiction had profoundly changed British society, becoming not just a vibrant part of popular culture, but a reference point among military planners, advertisers, and politicians. This intersection between politics and culture, between entertainment and war planning, sets invasion-scare stories apart as one of the most versatile and interesting fictional products in modern British history. Building on recent work in both history and literature studies, Invasions is the first study of invasion-scare fiction to examine both the form (that is, fiction) and the function (the political argument) of the genre.

Author: Christian K. Melby
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Published: 04/15/2025
Series: Interventions: Rethinking the Nineteenth Century
Pages: 344
Weight: 1.19lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.81d
ISBN: 9781526168856