The Offbeat Radicals
The British Tradition of Alternative Dissent
Geoffrey Ashe
'The greatest event of the nineteenth century in England was the revolution which did not happen' G. K. Chesterton
Mired in poverty and injustice, late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century England was as ripe for revolutionary change as its continental neighbour, with many of its leading intellectuals keen to stoke the fires. Yet the Reign of Terror and later Napoleonic wars that engulfed post-Revolutionary France, held serious implications for the development of British radical thought. Former revolutionary advocates such as Wordsworth and Coleridge quickly came to recognise the bloody shortcomings of violent upheaval, and in the early years of the nineteenth century, began to lay the foundations for a tradition of dissent aimed at seeking profound changes in justice through alternative means. Drawing on the lives and works of a unique collection of scholars, philosophers and literary figures - among them William Blake, the Shelleys, Robert Owen, George Eliot, John Ruskin, Annie Bessant - The Offbeat Radicals reveals how the highly unorthodox ideas developed by these heirs of British radical thought, sowed the seeds for future reform. An absorbing and stimulating read, Geoffrey Ashe's latest work proves an authoritative exploration of this intriguing and uniquely British strain of political thought. 'A fascinating ramble through the lives of visionary eccentrics' Times Literary Supplement
Related titles
About Geoffrey Ashe Geoffrey Ashe is an internationally recognised historian, lecturer and author specialising in British history and mythology. He has held visiting professorships with several American universities and has written more than twenty books, including Kings & Queens of Early Britain and Mythology of the British Isles (9780413771995), which is available from Methuen, The Discovery of King Arthur and the widely acclaimed biography Gandhi. A member of the International Arthurian Society, Geoffrey Ashe has also been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature since 1963.
Other titles by Geoffrey Ashe
|
|
