The origins of Anglo-American Radicalism - review

Authors Avatar

Margaret Jacob and James R. Jacob, editors. The origins of Anglo-American Radicalism. Paperback edition by Humanities Press International, Inc, New Jersey and London. 1991. Pp.1-337.

           

                         As the back cover of the paperback edition of Margaret Jacob and James Jacob’s book, The origins of Anglo-American Radicalism suggests a collection of significant and inspirational essays written by leading historians on the origins of the radical tradition in England and the United States. The essays cover the period from the early seventeenth century to the late eighteenth century and French Revolutionary era of the time. Both of the editors of the book are stimulating and important historians of our time. Margaret Jacob is a Professor of History at the New School for Social Research in New York. She had published many articles on Modern European History and its subject matters in addition she is the author of important scholarly works such as The Origins of Freemasonry and Living the Enlightenment Freemasonry and Politics in Eighteenth –Century Europe. James R. Jacob teaches European and English History at John Jay College and The Graduate School of the City University of New York. He is also the author of many articles and books such as Robert Boyle and the English Revolution.  The book aims and offers to draw the picture of the origins of Anglo-American Radicalism by bringing many important historians essays submitted in a conference in early 1980s. The quality of the contributing historians makes the book reliable in terms of understanding the intellectual and ideological backgrounds of radicalism both in England and United States.  

Join now!

                         As the title of the book implies, the essays in the book seeks to find out the origins of Anglo-American Radicalism up to the end of the eighteenth century. With this aim in mind Margaret and James Jacob intended to edit nineteen essays by famous historians. Most of the essays in the book were written in early 1980s asking somewhat the similar questions such as what was radical at that time, what it meant to be radical and what kinds of radicalism were there in England and ...

This is a preview of the whole essay