'This outstanding book paints a different picture of 1830s and 1840s politics as it captures how literature influences history and not just reflects it.'ChoiceReprinted with permission from Choice Reviews. All rights reserved. Copyright by the American Library AssociationIt represents a fascinating addition to scholarship on Victorian popular literature and, at times, a genuinely entertaining read which would benefit scholars working on popular fiction, the penny blood, radicalism, and the connection between popular literature and politics.Anna Gasperini, Journal of Victorian CultureThe strengths of Breton’s book are numerous and considerable. They include his skepticism of easy, academically fashionable ideological explanations of cultural phenomena ... Breton vividly demonstrates that popular literature was radical because radicalism appealed to plebeian Victorians. Rebecca Nesvet, Victorian Periodicals Review
