This book provides a comprehensive examination of conservative and right-wing responses to the Edwardian crisis in Britain (1901-1914). It stresses how the upsurge of right-wing extremism within and outside the Conservative party was accompanied by the crystallisation of a culture of violence. The preparation, instigation or threatening of violent acts against all those who appeared to threaten the organic nature and vigour of the national community found expression in a myriad of ultra-nationalist organisations, citizen policing groups, private military associations, and paramilitary formations. The book innovatively reconstructs the belief system and the practices of those right-wing actors, which pursued the goals of military preparedness, 'racial regeneration' and imperial unity, while defending the amorphous goals of authority, order and 'national efficiency' against the forces of radicalism and socialism. The book helps to cast light on the bellicose and authoritarian reflexes that traversed British conservatism in the turbulent prewar years.
By:
Alessandro Saluppo
Imprint: Manchester University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
Spine: 19mm
Weight: 642g
ISBN: 9781526164872
ISBN 10: 1526164876
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 01 December 2025
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
General/trade
,
Primary
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
Introduction 1 How to shoot a rifle: the civilian rifle club movement and the problem of British military preparedness, 1899-1914 2 Custodians of the Empire: The Legion of Frontiersmen, 1904-1914 3 Race regeneration: nativist impulses and the drive for physical efficiency 4 ‘The revolt of the good citizens:’ Free Labour and practices of patriotic strikebreaking, 1901-1914 5 ‘Carson’s two armies:’ The Ulster Volunteer Force and The British League for the Support of Ulster and the Union Epilogue: The legacy of the Edwardian revolt and the spectre of proto-fascism -- .
Alessandro Saluppo is an Adjunct Professor of History at Fordham University, New York.
