John Wilkes by Arthur H Cash

John Wilkes by Arthur H Cash

One of the most colourful figures in English political history, John Wilkes (1726 - 97) is remembered as the father of the British free press, defender of civil and political liberties and hero to American colonists, who attended closely to his outspoken endorsements of liberty. Wilkes's political career was rancorous, involving duels, imprisonments in the Tower of London and the Massacre of St. George's Fields, in which seven of his supporters were shot dead by government troops. And he was equally famous for his 'private' life - a confessed libertine, a member of the notorious Hellfire Club and the author of what has been called the dirtiest poem in the English language. This lively biography draws a full portrait of John Wilkes from his childhood days through his heyday as a journalist and agitator, his defiance of government prosecutions for libel and obscenity, his fight against exclusion from Parliament and his service as lord mayor of London on the eve of the American Revolution. Told here with the force and immediacy of a firsthand newspaper account, Wilkes's own remarkable story is inseparable from the larger story of modern liberties and how they came to fruition.

"The story is told with authority and vivid feeling: it has the force and immediacy of good journalism and a wealth of historical detail hardly available to Wilkes or his contemporariesThis book rescues Wilkes from legend back to life." David Bromwich "combines outstanding scholarship - the product of years of archival research - with a compelling, nuanced and beautifully told narrative of the life of one of the eighteenth century's most compelling characters." John Brewer, author of The Pleasures of the Imagination: English Culture in the Eighteenth Century"

Arthur Cash is Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Department of English, State University of New York at New Paltz and biographer of Laurence Sterne.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780300108712
ISBN 10	0300108710
Title	John Wilkes
Author	Arthur H Cash
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Yale University Press
Year published	2006-01-01
Number of pages	448
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable