Riot! - Civil Insurrection From Peterloo to the Present Day

'A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.' Martin Luther King Riot! covers, with a reporter's eye, almost 200 years of civil disturbance on mainland Britain, and gives a voice to some of the remarkable men and women involved. Ian Hernon shows that resistance played a part, not always beneficially, in the creation of proper parliamentary democracy, the welfare state, the trade union movement, the rights of immigrants and civil liberties. All of these, it can be argued, are under renewed attack today. Hernon tells the story of a largely unacknowledged tradition of violent protest in Britain, from the martyrs of Peterloo to the drug-fuelled street violence of today. Riot! charts how the struggles of individual groups of workers turned into a broader campaign for electoral reform and justice; how excessive use of state force failed to extinguish the fires; how the trade unions pressed for wider social justice; how Thatcherism reversed decades of gradual reform and sparked social turmoil; and how a"good"riot played a part in her downfall. Finishing with an account of the anti-globalisation movement and G8 protests, this lively book shows how the ugly roar of a mob has perhaps done more to change society than measured parliamentary debate.

About the author

Ian Hernon is a journalist and Westminster lobby correspondent. He is the author of Assassin!: 200 Years of British Political Murder (Pluto, 2007) and Riot!: Civil Insurrection From Peterloo to the Present Day (Pluto, 2006). He reports for the Sunday Times and Daily Express, Glasgow Evening Times, and many other newspapers. Ian's previous books on 19th Century British history include Britain's Forgotten Wars (Sutton, 2003).

Product details

• Authors: Ian Hernon, Hernon Ian
• Publisher: Wiley
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 20.09.2006
• EAN: 9780745350578
• ISBN: 978-0-7453-5057-8
• Illustrations: 7 b&w line drawings, 3 b&w photographs, Zeichnungen, schwarz-weiss, Raster,schwarz-weiss
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; European History, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Process / Political Advocacy, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Ideologies / Radicalism, British & Irish history, United Kingdom, Great Britain, HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / General, Pressure groups, protest movements and non-violent action, Demonstrations & protest movements, Revolutionary groups and movements, Political activism / Political engagement, HISTORY / Revolutions, Uprisings & Rebellions