The People's Farm - English Radical Agrarianism, 1775-1840 (Hardcover)

A survey of the development of agrarian ideas from the 1770s through to Chartism and beyond which seeks to explain why, in an era of industrialization and urban growth, land remained a major political issue.;The author considers the relationship between "land consciousness" and early socialism, attempts to create alternative communities and contemporary perceptions of nature and the environment. He concludes that, far from being an anachronistic, utopian and reactionary movement, agrarianism was an integral part of the working-class experience and of radical politics.;This work also provides a detailed study of Thomas Spence and his followers the Spenceans. Their involvement in the Spa fields and Cato Street conspiracies is also discussed, as well as the significance of their contribution to English radicalism and the agrarian reforms of the 1820s and 1830s.