Contested Liberalisms

Reviews / Votes

Crawford's book is placed as a highly competitive runner up. It is commended as an impressively weighty and lucid book that negotiates its way carefully through its tripartite interests in liberalism, transatlantic cross-cultural exchange and the development of the periodical press. It offers new approaches to both Martineau and Dickens in its scholarly study of their contrasting contributions to emerging formulations of progressive social theory in ways that richly reveal the intellectual heft and significance of their writings in the context of the development of liberal thought. Crawford draws out the details of their relationship masterfully in this sophisticated and erudite work that is full of rich detail related with minute attention to scholarly conversation. A pleasure to read, this book is an important contribution to the history of the periodical press, to Dickens studies, and especially to our understanding of the importance of Harriet Martineau. * 2020 Robert and Vineta Colby Scholarly Book Prize award committee * Crawford's book is placed as a highly competitive runner up. It is commended as an impressively weighty and lucid book that negotiates its way carefully through its tripartite interests in liberalism, transatlantic cross-cultural exchange and the development of the periodical press. It offers new approaches to both Martineau and Dickens in its scholarly study of their contrasting contributions to emerging formulations of progressive social theory in ways that richly reveal the intellectual heft and significance of their writings in the context of the development of liberal thought. Crawford draws out the details of their relationship masterfully in this sophisticated and erudite work that is full of rich detail related with minute attention to scholarly conversation. A pleasure to read, this book is an important contribution to the history of the periodical press, to Dickens studies, and especially to our understanding of the importance of Harriet Martineau. * 2020 Robert and Vineta Colby Scholarly Book Prize award committee * Our understanding of these two major figures of Victorian journalism is immensely enriched by this fascinating comparative analysis of their contributions to the transatlantic development of the press. -- Catherine Waters, University of Kent * Dickens Quarterly * A fascinating and incisive study of the relationship of Martineau and Dickens, major figures in the world of Victorian journalism, both transformed by their exposure to America, both liberals, and yet as Crawford shows, ultimately at odds in their response to the liberal project. Revelatory and utterly compelling. * Joanne Shattock, University of Leicester * This book, with its wealth of references to primary materials and a wide range of secondary scholarship, provides a rich resource for scholars of Martineau and Dickens during the formative years of modern mass media. ... Contested Liberalisms is both a worthy resource in itself and a clear road map for new directions in scholarship on Martineau, Dickens, and nineteenth-century periodicals history. -- Deborah A. Logan, Western Kentucky University * Victorian Periodicals Review * Throughout Contested Liberalisms, Crawford wields jaw-dropping knowledge of these two authors' lives and works from the 1830s to the 1850s, enabling him nimbly to expose not only their specific disagreements, but also the source and subsequent issue of those divergent beliefs. For those interested in Martineau's and Dickens's political thought, this book will be both richly satisfying and an invaluable resource. -- Jessie Reeder, Binghamton University * Victorian Studies * Throughout Contested Liberalisms, Crawford wields jaw-dropping knowledge of these two authors' lives and works from the 1830s to the 1850s, enabling him nimbly to expose not only their specific disagreements, but also the source and subsequent issue of those divergent beliefs. For those interested in Martineau's and Dickens's political thought, this book will be both richly satisfying and an invaluable resource. -- Jessie Reeder, Binghamton University * Victorian Studies *