Essays on Politics and Society brings together the most significant writings on the topic by the acclaimed Victorian historian, social critic, and essayist Thomas Carlyle. This volume includes some of his most well-known and influential pieces, such as "Characteristics" and "Chartism." In keeping with the Norman and Charlotte Strouse Edition of the Writings of Thomas Carlyle, these essays are accompanied by a thorough historical introduction to the material, extensive notes providing historical and cultural context while expanding on references and allusions, and a textual apparatus that carefully details and explains the editorial decisions made in reconciling the editions of each essay.
"Carlyle's essays 'on politics and society' are some of his most significant and widely read, especially 'Characteristics' and 'Chartism.' The supporting material surrounding the actual essays is extremely well done and constitutes a great deal of original and insightful content. Maintaining continuity with the early editions, the latest volume will prove to be one of the most popular not only for the specific essays but also for the elaborate apparatus the editors use to elucidate and situate those specific essays."—Rob Breton, Professor of English, Nipissing University, and author of The Oppositional Aesthetics of Chartist Fiction: Reading against the Middle-Class Novel
"This material is exhaustive and will be of inestimable use to future scholars of Carlyle, the vagaries of textual history, and nineteenth-century British publishing practices. This is meticulous and laborious work that was always likely to be done only once, and so I, at least, am pleased that it was completed here with such unflagging attention."—Albert Pionke, William and Margaret Going Endowed Professor of English, University of Alabama, and author of Teaching Later British Literature: A Thematic Approach
