Summary

The five pieces reprinted here are part of the vibrant polemical literature of liberalism in the last four decades of the nineteenth century. They illustrate a creed whose adherents were acutely aware of its recent achievements & further potential in shaping British society & politics. The dynamic, highly reflective nature of British liberalism in this period is already familiar through substantial texts such as Mill's Subjection of Women (1869) & Spencer's The Man Versus the State (1884). However, many works on a smaller scale were also important in defining the contours of liberal thought when the political fortunes of liberalism were at their height. This volume represents a sample of such writings. It will be of interest to scholars & advanced undergraduates studying liberalism & English political thought & history.