Review: James Epstein and David Karr, British Jacobin Politics, Desires, and Aftermaths: Seditious Hearts (London: Routledge, 2021) in Romance, Revolution & Reform 5 (Jan 2023).

Abstract

First paragraph: ‘I ADOPT THE term Jacobinism without hesitation’, wrote John Thelwall in 1796, ‘because it is fixed upon us, as a stigma by our enemies’. In Seditious Hearts, James Epstein and David Karr seek to understand the motives of those who, like Thelwall, committed themselves, often openly, to radical reform. The introduction and opening chapter of this monograph are co-authored by Epstein and Karr, who each contribute four further chapters respectively. A number of these essays have appeared as earlier versions elsewhere, here they are expanded and brought together to constitute a robust analysis of British radicalism in the last decade of the eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century. The work is structured into two parts. The first analyses a ‘strain’ of Jacobinism existing in British radicalism in the 1790s, the second examines its resurrection in 1817 and memorialisation during the 1830s. The work concludes with a consideration of the political and intellectual life of social historian E.P. Thompson (1924-1993).