In the last thirty years much has been published on working-class and popular radicalism in the nineteenth century, but the no-less important field of middle-class radicalism has been strangely neglected. Paul Adelman's is the first general up-to-date study of the subject, despite its central importance to nineteenth-century political and social history.

The book is based on primary sources, recent specialist research, and older (largely biographical) studies. The arrangement is mainly chronological. It concentrates on the period from the 'Philosophic Radicals' and the Anti-Corn Law League in the 1830s and 40s to the impact of Home Rule and the decline of Radicalism in the later 1880s. The introduction, however, analyses the general character of Victorian middle-class radicalism in its social and economic context; and the concluding chapter examines the contribution of the Victorian Radical tradition to the work of the Liberal governments of 1905-1914, years which saw the final demise of that tradition.

Within this framework, Dr Adelman also explores a number of key themes which run through the whole period: among them the role of businessmen; the importance of pressure groups; the relationship between the Radicals and the Liberal Party; and the part played by outstanding Radicals like Bright, John Morley, and Chamberlain.