Masks of Anarchy : The History of a Radical Poem, from Percy Shelley to the Triangle Factory Fire

Demson, Michael

ISBN 10: 1781680981 / ISBN 13: 9781781680988

Published by Verso Books, 2013

Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good. Seller Inventory # 48465687-6

Synopsis:

Masks of Anarchy tells the extraordinary story of Shelley's 'The Masque of Anarchy,' its conception in Italy, its suppression in England, and how it became a rallying cry for workers across the Atlantic a century later. 'Shake your chains to earth like dew,' it implores. 'Ye are many - they are few.' In 1819, British troops attacked a peaceful crowd of demonstrators near Manchester, killing and maiming hundreds. News of the Peterloo Massacre, as it came to be known, traveled to the young English poet Percy Shelley, then living in Italy, who immediately sat down at his desk and penned one of the greatest political poems in the English language. His words would later inspire figures as wide-ranging as Henry David Thoreau and Mahatma Gandhi - and also Pauline Newman, the woman the New York Times called the 'New Joan of Arc' in 1907. Newman was a Jewish immigrant who grew up in the tenements of New York City's Lower East Side, worked in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, and came to be one of the leading organizers - and the first female organizer - of one of America's most powerful unions, the International Ladies' Garments Workers' Union. Marching with tens, sometimes hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers in the streets, Newman found Shelley's poetry a perennial source of inspiration.

About the Author: MICHAEL DEMSON is a Professor of English at Sam Houston State University in Texas. SUMMER MCCLINTON is a New York - based illustrator whose work has appeared in The Beats.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Masks of Anarchy : The History of a Radical ...
Publisher: Verso Books
Publication Date: 2013
Binding: Soft cover
Illustrator: Mcclinton, Summer
Condition: Good
Edition: 1st Edition.