Dr Paul Schlicke is an internationally renowned Dickens scholar, whose works include Dickens and Popular Entertainment (1985), several Dickens critical editions, including Oxford World's Classics editions of Hard Times (1989) and Nicholas Nickleby (1990), as well as Coffee with Dickens (2008), and numerous articles and reviews.

This is a book where most redundant matter has been left out, and where a simple (and therefore memorable) yet comprehensive scheme of variations across the democratic phenomenon is presented and discussed ... I find that the book makes democratic theory very accessible. It will definitely be on my bookshelf, right next to classics on the subject by, for instance, Lijphart, Held and Dahl.

• Acknowledgements ; Preface ; Contents ; Editorial Team ; Classified Contents List ; List of Abbreviations ; Dickens Family Tree ; How to Use this Book ; A-Z entries (with 32 pp plate section) ; Maps ; General Bibliography ; Alphabetical List of Characters ; Time Chart ; Index

Dr Paul Schlicke is an internationally renowned Dickens scholar, whose works include Dickens and Popular Entertainment (1985), several Dickens critical editions, including Oxford World's Classics editions of Hard Times (1989) and Nicholas Nickleby (1990), as well as Coffee with Dickens (2008), and numerous articles and reviews.

This is a book where most redundant matter has been left out, and where a simple (and therefore memorable) yet comprehensive scheme of variations across the democratic phenomenon is presented and discussed ... I find that the book makes democratic theory very accessible. It will definitely be on my bookshelf, right next to classics on the subject by, for instance, Lijphart, Held and Dahl.

• Acknowledgements ; Preface ; Contents ; Editorial Team ; Classified Contents List ; List of Abbreviations ; Dickens Family Tree ; How to Use this Book ; A-Z entries (with 32 pp plate section) ; Maps ; General Bibliography ; Alphabetical List of Characters ; Time Chart ; Index

Dr Paul Schlicke is an internationally renowned Dickens scholar, whose works include Dickens and Popular Entertainment (1985), several Dickens critical editions, including Oxford World's Classics editions of Hard Times (1989) and Nicholas Nickleby (1990), as well as Coffee with Dickens (2008), and numerous articles and reviews.

This is a book where most redundant matter has been left out, and where a simple (and therefore memorable) yet comprehensive scheme of variations across the democratic phenomenon is presented and discussed ... I find that the book makes democratic theory very accessible. It will definitely be on my bookshelf, right next to classics on the subject by, for instance, Lijphart, Held and Dahl.

• Acknowledgements ; Preface ; Contents ; Editorial Team ; Classified Contents List ; List of Abbreviations ; Dickens Family Tree ; How to Use this Book ; A-Z entries (with 32 pp plate section) ; Maps ; General Bibliography ; Alphabetical List of Characters ; Time Chart ; Index