Print, Publicity, and Popular Radicalism in the 1790s

Jon Mee is Professor of Eighteenth-Century Studies at the University of York and Director of the Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies. He has published many essays and books on the literature, culture, and politics of the age of revolutions in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. He is also author of The Cambridge Introduction to Charles Dickens (Cambridge, 2010).

'A fascinating and insightful look at a very dangerous time in British history, Mee's excellent book also speaks directly to us in the early 21st century as radicals once more try to disrupt civilisation.' Sun News Austin (www.sunnewsaustin.com)

• Introduction: the open theatre of the world?; Part I. Publicity, Print, and Association: 1. Popular radical print culture: 'the more public the better'; 2. The radical associations and 'the general will'; Part II. Radical Personalities: 3. 'Once a squire and now a man': Robert Merry and the pains of politics; 4. 'The ablest head, with the blackest heart:' Charles Pigott and the scandal of radicalism; 5. Citizen Lee at 'The tree of liberty'; 6. John Thelwall and the 'whole will of the nation'.