This fascinating study reveals the extent to which the Orientalism of Byron and the Shelleys resonated with the reformist movement of the Romantic era. It documents how and why radicals like Bentham, Cobbett, Carlile, Hone and Wooler, among others in post-Revolutionary Britain, invoked Turkey, North Africa and Mughal India when attacking and seeking to change their government's domestic policies. Examining a broad archive ranging from satires, journalism, tracts, political and economic treatises, and public speeches, to the exotic poetry and fictions of canonical Romanticism, Gerard Cohen-Vrignaud shows that promoting colonization was not Orientalism's sole ideological function. Equally vital was its aesthetic and rhetorical capacity to alienate the people's affection from their rulers and fuel popular opposition to regressive taxation, penal cruelty, police repression, and sexual regulation.

'… this is a fascinating and rewarding study that sheds new light on established ideas about British Romanticism’s engagement with the 'Orient' while pointing to further issues yet to be addressed.'

Cian Duffy Source: Modern Philology

'… Cohen-Vrignaud’s rich study demonstrates that there is still much to debate and discuss, and it will provide a valuable scholarly resource.'

James Watt Source: Review of English Studies