How were cultural, political and social identities formed in the early modern period? How were they maintained and what happened when they were contested? "Community" has suffered from a problem intrinsic to historical analysis; the tensions between its past and current meanings. Divided into three parts this book looks first at community and networks - how individuals were bound into communities by religious, professional and social networks. The second part looks at the importance of place - ranging from the Parish, to communities of crime, to the place of political culture. Finally the authors explore the value of rhetoric in generating community - from the King's English to the use of "public" as a rhetorical community.