MARC BAER Professor and Chair of the Department of History, Hope College, Michigan, USA. His research focuses on the cultural, social and political history of Britain - especially London - since the late eighteenth century. He is the author of Theatre and Disorder in Late Georgian London (Oxford University Press, 1992).

List of Figures List of Tables Acknowledgements Abbreviations Commencement: The Boundaries of Politics Stories: Whig, Radical, and Tory Westminster Tribunes: The Personality of Democracy Words: The Languages of Democracy Crowds: The Decline of Disorder Spaces: Civic, Public, Private and Social Rituals: Performing Demotic Culture Associations: From Actors to Audiences Pictures: Democracy Imagined Conclusion: The Workshop of Democracy Appendix: Westminster Election Results, 1780-1891 Bibliography Index

The Rise and Fall of Radical Westminster, 1780-1890 explores a critical chapter in the story of Britain's transition to democracy. Utilising the remarkably rich documentation generated by Westminster elections, Baer reveals how the most radical political space in the age of oligarchy became the most conservative and tranquil in an age of democracy.