The Sense of the People: Politics, Culture and Imperialism in England, 1715-1785

This exciting study demonstrates the central role of "the people," the empire, and the citizen in eighteenth-century English popular politics. Pioneering in its focus on provincial towns, its attention to the imperial contexts of urban politics and its use of a rich and diverse array of sources—from newspapers, prints and plays to pottery and tea-cloths—it shows how the wide-ranging political culture of English towns attuned ordinary men and women to the issues of state power and thus enabl...