Radical expression: political language, ritual, and symbol in England, 1790-1850.

Epstein, James A.

Published by Oxford University Press, New York, 1994

About this Item

very good dust-jacket, near fine red cloth, attractive copy. EPSTEIN, JAMES A. Radical expression: political language, ritual, and symbol in England, 1790-1850. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994, 1st printing number line ending with 1, x, 233pp., . Exploring a set of related themes dealing with popular radical language, ideology, and communication in late eighteenth-century and early nineteenth-century England, Radical Expression reexamines the rhetoric of popular constitutionalism and the associated repertoire of constitutionalist mobilization. James Epstein argues that, despite the impulses of the French revolution, popular constitutionalism remained the dominant idiom within which radicals framed their democratic demands. The constitutionalist idiom was a "shared" cultural inheritance, a "master fiction" defining England's place in the universe of nations. It was for this reason that radicals struggled to appropriate its language, to give their own accent to its central terms and to tell the "real" story of the nation's constitutional past. Epstein places particular emphasis on the symbolic and ritual elements within popular radicalism, including chapters on the dense web of meanings associated with the cap of liberty and the rituals of radical commemoration, toasting, and dining. As a counterpoint to the book's emphasis on constitutionalist modes of argumentation and mobilization, the book also includes a sustained consideration of the language, culture, and style of plebeian rationalism. Radical Expression makes an important contribution to discussions on the formation of political ideologies and communities of opinion. It will be of great interest to historians of Modern England, social historians. and political historians. - CONTENTS: 1. The Constitutionalist Idiom -- 2. Narrating Liberty's Defense: T.J. Wooler and the Law -- 3. Understanding the Cap of Liberty: Symbolic Practice and Social Conflict in Early-Nineteenth-Century England -- 4. Reason's Republic: Richard Carlile, Zetetic Culture, and Infidel Stylistics -- 5. Rituals of Solidarity: Radical Dining, Toasting, and Symbolic Expression. 9780195065503 ISBN 0195065506 21.20.

Seller Inventory # 100284

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Radical expression: political language, ritual, and symbol in England, 1790-1850.
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, New York
• Publication Date: 1994
• Language: English
• Binding: hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: includes dust-jacket
• Seller catalogs:
  • Political-theory-England