From regicides to revolutionaries; from fascists to anarchists; from Tom Paine to Tom Wintringham, this book is a history of noble ideals and crushing failures in which Clive Bloom takes us on a journey through British history, exploring our often rocky relationship with the ruling elite. Restless Revolutionaries reveals our surprising legacy of terroism and revolution, reminding us that Britain has witnessed centuries of revolt. This is a history encompassing three bloody civil wars in Ireland, the bombing campaigns by the IRA, two Welsh uprisings, one Lowland Scottish civil war, uprisings in Derbyshire and Kent, five attempts to assassinate the entire cabinet and seize London, and numerous attempts to murder the royal family. Restless Revolutionaries provides a fascinating testament to the fact that from the 1790s to the present day over 23,000 British subjects have fought and died for the ideal of a fair republic.

CLIVE BLOOM is Emeritus Professor of English and American Studies at Middlesex University. He is also an occasional feature writer, regularly appears on television and radio and is quoted in the Columbia Book of World Quotations. His political writings were included in an exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery and he was a media commentator on the G20 protests. ‘Bloom is a card-carrying public intellectual, a regular media commentator and the prolific author and editor of books on pulp fiction, Poe and Freud, graphic novels, politics and literature, best-sellers, American Gothic, British horror, violence and the occult. In short, he has street cred.’ Times Higher Education Magazine.