Welcome to The Broadview Anthology of British Literature
“… sets a new standard by which all other anthologies of British Literature will now have to be measured.”
– Graham Hammill, SUNY Buffalo
“With the publication of the Broadview Anthology of British Literature, teachers and students in survey and upper-level undergraduate courses have a compelling alternative to the established anthologies by Norton and Longman.… This is a very real intellectual, as well as pedagogical, achievement.”
– Nicholas Watson, Harvard University
“… an excellent anthology. Good selections for my purposes (including some nice surprises), just the right level of annotation, affordable—and a hit with my students. I will definitely use it again.”
– Ira Nadel, University of British Columbia
“After twenty years of teaching British literature from the Norton anthologies, I’m ready to switch to the Broadview. The introductions to each period are key to teaching a survey course, and those in the Broadview seem to me to be both more accessible to students and more detailed in their portraits of each era than are those of the Norton. And Broadview’s selection of authors and texts includes everything I like to teach from the Norton, plus a good deal else that’s of real interest.”
— Neil R. Davison, Oregon State University
“Norton’s intros are good; Broadview’s are better, with greater clarity and comprehension, as well as emphasis upon how the language and literature develop, both reacting or responding to and influencing or modifying the cultural, religious/philosophical, political, and socio-economic developments of Britain. The historian and the linguist in me thoroughly enjoyed the flow and word-craftsmanship. If you have not considered the anthology for your courses, I recommend that you do so.”
— Robert J. Schmidt, Tarrant County College
In all six of its volumes, The Broadview Anthology of British Literature presents British literature in a truly distinctive light.
A diverse and socially responsible anthology. The Broadview Anthology features an extraordinarily wide-ranging canon, with close attention paid to matters such as race, gender, class, and sexual orientation in all editorial decisions large and small—from the selection of authors and texts to the provision of annotations that responsibly address racist, homophobic, and other bigoted language within the texts themselves.
Historical and cultural context. The Broadview Anthology offers a fuller range of contextual materials than any competing anthology, with “Contexts” sections from “The Crises of the Fourteenth Century” and “The Abolition of Slavery” to “The Natural and the Sublime” and “Britain, Empire, and the Wider World.” Individual texts and authors are frequently accompanied by their own contextual materials. Extensive illustrations are included throughout, including colour illustrations, and audio materials are offered on the anthology’s companion website.
Helpful, reliable apparatus. The introductions to authors and periods are superb and comprehensive, and annotations provide the information students need without interfering with their interpretation of the text. The bound book offers useful maps and a glossary of both literary and historical terms, while the companion website features a guide to money, review questions, chronological charts, and more.
Dynamic and flexible contents. Our two-column format allows us to include a wide range of material within a reasonable page count. Our companion website acts as an extension of the anthology, featuring a broad selection of additional texts that have been edited to the same high standard as those in the bound book. We also offer more than 400 editions of stand-alone texts, any one of which can be packaged with an anthology volume at no additional cost to the student.
Concise and Compact Editions. In addition to the full six-volume anthology, the Broadview Anthology is available in two condensed forms: a two-volume Concise edition (about 3600 pages total) and a single-volume Compact version (2100 pages).
Multi-Volume Packages. Multiple volumes of the anthology may be packaged together at a reduced price.
Custom texts may be assembled from any materials drawn from the anthology or other Broadview texts (excepting those for which Broadview does not hold copyright) to create an attractively printed and cost-effective alternative to the traditional bound anthology.