This edited collection of essays focuses on the topic of protest during the Enlightenment of the long eighteenth century (roughly 1670-1833).
Resistance in the eighteenth century was extensive, and the act of protest to foment meaningful societal change took on many forms from the circulation of ballads, swearing of oaths, to riots and work stoppages, or the composition of essays, novels, posters, caricatures, political cartoons, as well as theater and opera. The contributors to this volume examine the causes of protest as well as the broad ways in which common artifacts such as poles, trees, drums, conchs, and songs acted as flashpoints for conflict and vehicles of protest. Rather than approaching the topic with strict geographical, temporal, and structural limitations, this book focuses on the time period from an international perspective and an interdisciplinary scope.
Because of its wide scope, this book is an important contribution to the subject that will be of interest to both faculty and students of the history of protest, resistance and the changes that these forces bring as it also reminds us that the protests of today are rooted in historical resistances of the past.