Reading Jane Austenexplores Mansfield Park, Pride and Prejudice, Emma,
and Persuasion against their historical and cultural backdrop to show
precisely how Jane Austen sets out the core themes of British morality
in her novels. Austen s period was arguably the most socially and
politically tumultuous in England s history, and by replacing the novels
in this remarkable era, Scheuermann sharply defines Austen s view of the
social contract.