Chartism, the mass movement for democratic rights, dominated British domestic politics in the late 1830s and 1840s. It mobilised over three million supporters at its height. Few modern European social movements, certainly in Britain, have captured the attention of posterity to quite the extent it has done. Encompassing moments of great drama, it is one of the very rare points in British history where it is legitimate to speculate how close the country came to revolution. It is also pivotal to debates around continuity and change in Victorian Britain, gender, language and identity. "Chartism: A New History" is the only book to offer in-depth coverage of the entire chronological spread (1838-58) of this pivotal movement and to consider its rich and varied history in full. Based throughout on original research (including newly discovered material), this is a vivid and compelling narrative of a movement which mobilised three million people at its height. The author deftly intertwines analysis and narrative, interspersing his chapters with short 'Chartist Lives', relating the intimate and personal to the realm of the social and political. This book will become essential reading for anyone with an interest in early Victorian Britain, specialists, students and general readers alike.

An original study of the role of the Chartist Press in the campaign for democracy in Victorian Britain, and overseas. A study of the press from 1838 to the late 1850s A wider area is studied: it considers the press in England Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Australia Includes both innovative and revisionist perspectives Almost all of the contributors are well known specialists in the history of Chartism The editors provide a comprehensive introduction setting contributions in context and discuss how these essays expand our knowledge of Chartism Includes a selection of journalism: some of which is available from our website for teachers to freely copy and use.

Based on original research, a study of the campaign for political and social democracy and for workers education, after 1848. This work looks at independent working-class radical education and politics in England from the year of revolutions, 1848 to the passage of the 1870 Education Act. It takes as its starting point Richard Johnson's analysis of really useful knowledge but argues that radical ideas and radical working-class education and schools, far from disappearing after 1848, in fact flourished.

This study of six Chartist Leaders portrays movements for democracy and social progress, and explores the role of the uneasy middle classes in campaigns for working-class rights. The comparative analysis provides insights in to the development of dissent, the nature of class and of radicalism in the nineteenth century and an introduction sketches the historical context.