Commemorating Peterloo

Reflections on the Bicentenary of the 1819 Massacre of Reformers in Manchester

Two hundred years after the massacre of protestors in Manchester, known as Peterloo, distinguished scholars of Romantic-era literature join together in this commemorative volume to assess the implications of the violence. Contributors explore how attitudes toward violence and the claims of people to participate in government were reflected and revised in the verbal and visual culture of the time. Their analyses provide fresh insights into cultural engagement as a means of resisting oppression and a sign of the resilience of humanity in facing threats and force.

Key Features

• Provides a multi-perspectival, historical revaluation of the violence of Peterloo


• Draws on contemporary theorizations of violence by Judith Butler, Slavoj Zizek and Rob Nixon to account for the cultural factors leading to Peterloo


• Supplements treatments of Peterloo centering on English history with attention to the significance of that event from Scottish, Irish and North American perspectives

This timely gathering of excellent scholars refreshes and deepens our understanding of "Peterloo." Reading it as now providing an argument for non-violent popular action and now revealing dispersed state violence, the collection broadens our approach to Peterloo to responses in painting, poetry and plays and to reactions from Ireland, Scotland and America.