University of Wales Press. 2000. 629 pages. ISBN13: 978-0708316047; ISBN10: 0708316042
This is a pioneering authoritative study on the social history of the Welsh language. It contains twenty-two chapters, all written by acknowledged experts in the field, dealing with the status of the Welsh language in a wide range of social domains, including agriculture and industry, education, religion, politics, law and culture. Although bureaucrats, Celtophobes and some of the upwardly mobile Welsh-speaking bourgeoisie were reluctant to promote the interests of the native tongue, these clearly exerted enormous potential for Welsh to become, both numerically and socially, a powerful influence in several contested domains.