Reivew- Peterloo

Peterloo: The Story of the Manchester Massacre by Jacqueline Riding

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I enjoyed this book, which draws a good balance between describing the leading personalities involved in the Peterloo massacre, and giving an overview of British society in the wake of the Napoleonic wars. Riding plainly has more sympathy to the reformers and radicals than their conservative opponents, although given the mismatch of intellectual honesty between the two sides, that is hardly surprising.

Overviews of the reform movement and various institutions of the time are given, and there is an interesting discussion of how the reform movement drew on traditions, or myths, of English political history, such as the glorious revolution, and even feudal chivalry.

The book is short and pithy, and feels like it should be read as an introduction to the subject. In the forward, Mike Leigh writes that the event, and the characters involved, have not had the prominence in history teaching that they deserve. That seems to me to be a well founded observation- I for one knew only the sketchiest details before reading this book.

In giving an accessible and well written corrective to that ignorance, I'd rate Riding's book as entirely successful.



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