Book excerpt: 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.