THE ENGLISH JACOBINS

by Carl B. Cone ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 27, 1968

To speak of ""English Jacobins"" may seem tantamount to speaking of ""American Bordeaux"" or Italian chow mein. Yet, as Professor Cone points out, there was afoot in England, during the last decade of the 18th century, a reform movement that was wholly analogous to the more famous one across the Channel. it is true that the English Jacobins produced no Danton, no Robespierre--not even a decent Reign of Terror; but is is equally true that the reforms which they inaugurated marked in England, just as surely as the Revolution did in France, the end of the old order of privilege and the beginning of the new order of democracy. It is that seminal period and those Jacobin reformers who are the subject of this book. The author gives a brief, but exact and readable account of the events, personalities, accomplishments, and persecutions that marked the beginnings of the great reforms of the 19th and 20th centuries, the rise of the working class, and the emergence of a new urban, industrial order in place of the old rural, landed aristocracy in England. If the subject seems a bit too recondite for the general reader in America, the student of English history and the social-reform buff will find The English Jacobins a fascinating account of an intriguing period.

Pub Date: June 27, 1968

ISBN: 1412813298

Page Count: -

Publisher: Scribners

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1968

Categories: NONFICTION