The Lancaster Pamphlets Series

What are the Lancaster Pamphlets?

The Lancaster Pamphlets series, now published by Routledge, originated in the early 1980s and celebrated its 25th Anniversary in 2008. There are now over 60 titles in the series. The Series began as a response to the challenges presented by the first of the succession of financial crises which have afflicted the British university sector in the last twenty years of the 20th century. In the early 1980s, the then government came to the view that the professionalism needed the ‘enhancement’ which the injection of a stiff dose of commercialism and competition was supposed to provide. Accordingly, it willed a massive massive expansion of the Higher Education sector without providing the resources such an expansion needed. The Lancaster History Department decided to meet the challenge of what became known in characteristically unlovely managerial jargon as ‘the declining unit of resource’. It aimed to generate income through developing a product for which it seemed likely there would be a substantial and lasting market. This ‘product’ was brief, up-to-date and scholarly surveys of key historical topics. The aim was to make the latest scholarship available in accessible - and affordable - form to sixth-form students studying for GCE Advanced level History examinations and also to students at, or near, the beginning of undergraduate courses. The publishers Methuen (Routledge took over the Series later) collaborated with the Department on this exciting new venture and the first six Pamphlets, running to 12,000 words - were put on sale for the princely sum of £1.50 - were produced in 1983.

All of the early Pamphlets were produced by members of the Lancaster History Department and a substantial majority of the nearly seventy titles which now comprise one of the largest series of its kind in British publishing have been written by Lancaster historians. On average three to four new titles have been published each year. Several titles are translated into foreign languages. One member of the Department has now published five Pamphlets, two have produced four each and a number of colleagues have written more than one. Over the years, the Series has changed as it has developed. From an original project aimed squarely at the most popular A-level topics, it has come to paint on a very much broader historical canvass. The opportunity has been taken to create ‘Lancaster Pamphlets in Ancient History’ as a subdivision within the overall Series. Lancaster Pamphlets now run chronologically from Athenian Democracy to the Cold War: the Lancaster version of ‘From Plato to NATO’! The contrasting themes of these two titles at extreme ends of the chronological spectrum might support the historian's contention that change does not always equate to progress.

Also, as time went on, the Pamphlets increased in length. The later titles, and new editions of existing ones, now run to between 25,000 and 30,000 words, reflecting the opinion of both teachers and students that students could cope with more detail, provided the headings were frequent and thematic chapters short. Recently published and later editions of Pamphlets in the Series now include time lines, a critical bibliography, a glossary of key terms and an index. In truth, Lancaster Pamphlets are now properly ‘Lancaster Books’ and serve a wider market.

The Series has been much imitated by competitors, many of whom have abandoned writing complete texts in favour of structured chapters interspersed both with visual evidence and with teaching, learning and assessment ‘tasks’ incorporated. Lancaster Pamphlets, though the Series has changed in other ways, still offer complete books. The Series continues with its aim of providing high-quality introductory history books, rather than moving into the more instrumental, assessment-dominated, market of ‘student aids’. We hope that you will find something in the long list to interest you. It is ordered in a broadly chronological way. If you have any questions or views on the Series, please contact me.

Eric Evans, Co–Editor

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