Book Description

This book traces the development of agrarian ideas from the 1770s to Chartism and beyond, exploring why, in an era of industrialization and urban growth, land remained one of the major issues in British popular politics. Arguing that agrarianism was an integral part of the working-class experience and radical politics, Chase analyzes the relationship between "land consciousness" and early socialism, the attempts to create alternative communities, and contemporary perceptions of nature and the environment. He also provides the most extensive study to date of the influence of Thomas Spence and his followers, and throws new light on the Spa fields and Cato Street conspiracies, charting their contribution to the radicalism of the period.