John Wilkes: The Scandalous Father of Civil LibertyYale University Press, 11 feb. 2006 - 497 pagini Pulitzer Prize Finalist: A biography of the wildly colorful eighteenth-century British politician who became “the toast of American revolutionaries” (Booklist). One of the most colorful figures in English political history, John Wilkes (1726–97) is remembered as the father of the British free press, a defender of civil and political liberties—and a hero to American colonists. 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 to death by government troops. He was equally famous for his “private” life—as 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 civil liberties and how they came to fruition. “[Does] justice to Wilkes both as a fiery proponent of individual rights and as . . . a libertine par excellence in an age with no shortage of memorable rakes.” —The New York Times “It is difficult to believe that John Wilkes, a notorious womanizer and scandal-monger, was a genuine hero of civil liberties and political democracy on both sides of the Atlantic in the late 18th century, but hero he was and in this engaging book Arthur Cash gives Wilkes the serious treatment he has long deserved.” —Eric Foner, Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History and New York Times–bestselling author of Reconstruction |
Cuprins
1 | |
5 | |
17 | |
37 | |
65 | |
96 | |
VI The Great George Street Printing Shop | 121 |
VII Trials and a Trial of Honor | 143 |
XI The City of London | 267 |
XII My Lord Mayor | 312 |
XIII Poverty Paternity and Parliamentary Reform | 328 |
XIV Chamberlain | 351 |
Epilogue | 375 |
Afterword | 395 |
Notes | 397 |
Sources | 451 |
Alte ediții - Afișează-le pe toate
John Wilkes: The Scandalous Father of Civil Liberty Arthur Hill Cash Nu există previzualizare disponibilă - 2006 |
John Wilkes: The Scandalous Father of Civil Liberty Arthur H. Cash Nu există previzualizare disponibilă - 2006 |
Termeni și expresii frecvente
Add Mss Alderman Almon American appeared arrest asked Aylesbury Barnard began Bleackley Boswell brother called Churchill City of London Commons Journals copy Corradini Cotes court crowd Curry d'Holbach daughter debts election England English Liberty Essay on Woman father gentlemen George Grenville George III Glynn Grafton Grenville Papers Guildhall Heaton honor House of Commons House of Lords John Wilkes Johnson Justice Kidgell king King's Bench King's Bench Prison lady later lawyer letter libel Lord Bute lord mayor Lord North Lord Temple lordship Mansfield March messengers Middlesex ministers ministry never newspapers North Briton Paris Parliament petition Pitt Polly Potter pounds printed printers prison Public Advertiser published Rockingham Rudé Sandwich secretaries sent servants Smollett speech Thomas told took trial vote voters Walpole warrant Webb Westminster Wilkes and Liberty Wilkes Papers Wilkes wrote Wilkes's Wilkes's friends William