
This volume plunges listeners into the turbulent world of late‑18th‑century Britain, where empire, finance, and ambition collided. With vivid narration and a wealth of period illustrations, the author paints a portrait of a nation wrestling with its own identity while trying to keep distant colonies under control.
The focus sharpens on the controversial Stamp Act, tracing how a reluctant minister, George Grenville, and a determined monarch set the stage for a fiscal experiment that would echo across the Atlantic. Through lively courtroom‑like debates and behind‑the‑scenes maneuvering, the narrative reveals the competing arguments about defense costs, trade regulation, and the limits of royal authority. Listeners will gain a clear sense of the political pressures that shaped the policy, and why it sparked fierce opposition long before the colonies declared independence.
Language
en
Duration
~7 hours (416K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Cathy Maxam, Heather Clark and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
Release date
2012-07-02
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1874–1932
A prolific English writer and editor, he is best remembered for lively biographies of major literary figures including the Brontës and Jane Austen. Writing under the pen name Lewis Melville, he turned a deep interest in books and authors into a long career in literary journalism and biography.
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