Although these events [the Chartist riots] have been written about many times before, Catherine Howe sets this story in its wider context, she brings a fresh eye to the material, weighing things up at a distance from the debates that have preoccupied professional historians. Howe is a story teller and what this book offers is a straightforward, detailed and open-minded account of what happened in 1848. Stephen Roberts Research School of Humanities and the Arts - Australian National University