Bread, Knowledge and Freedom: A Study of Nineteenth-Century Working Class Autobiography

First published in 1981, Bread, Knowledge and Freedom is a study of 142 working class autobiographies all of which cover some part of the period between 1790 and 1850. It is a full-scale examination of a form of source material that is significantly extensive. The book illustrates many aspects of ordinary working-class family life as well as the working-class pursuit of knowledge and literacy and the attempts of the middle-class educators to impose their notion of ‘useful knowledge.’ Dr. Vi...