| Description |
1 online resource (xiii, 482 pages) : illustrations |
| Contents |
The making of a gentleman -- The squire of Aylesbury -- Into Parliament -- The North Briton -- Number 45 -- The Great George Street printing shop -- Trials and a trial of honor -- Exile -- The Middlesex election controversy -- Incapacitation -- The City of London -- My lord mayor -- Poverty, paternity, and parliamentary reform -- Chamberlain |
| Summary |
One of the most colourful figures in English political history, John Wilkes (1726 - 97) is remembered as the father of the British free press, defender of civil and political liberties and hero to American colonists, who attended closely to his outspoken endorsements of liberty. Wilkes's political career was rancorous, involving duels, imprisonments in the Tower of London and the Massacre of St. George's Fields, in which seven of his supporters were shot dead by government troops. And he was equally famous for his 'private' life - a confessed libertine, a member of the notorious Hellfire Club and the author of what has been called the dirtiest poem in the English language. This lively biography draws a full portrait of John Wilkes from his childhood days through his heyday as a journalist and agitator, his defiance of government prosecutions for libel and obscenity, his fight against exclusion from Parliament and his service as lord mayor of London on the eve of the American Revolution. Told here with the force and immediacy of a firsthand newspaper account, Wilkes's own remarkable story is inseparable from the larger story of modern liberties and how they came to fruition |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 451-463) and index |
| Notes |
English |
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Print version record |
| Subject |
Wilkes, John, 1725-1797
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| SUBJECT |
Wilkes, John, 1725-1797 fast |
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Wilkes, John 1725-1797 gnd |
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Wilkes, John Politiker. swd |
| Subject |
Freedom of the press -- Great Britain -- History -- 18th century
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Civil rights -- Great Britain -- History -- 18th century
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Politicians -- Great Britain -- Biography
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Journalists -- Great Britain -- Biography
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HISTORY.
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BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY -- Historical.
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Civil rights
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Freedom of the press
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Journalists
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Politics and government
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Politicians
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Pressefreiheit
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Politik
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Persvrijheid.
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| SUBJECT |
Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1760-1789. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85056907
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| Subject |
Great Britain
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Großbritannien
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| Genre/Form |
Biographies
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History
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Biographies.
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Biographies.
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| ISBN |
9780300133097 |
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030013309X |
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9786611731298 |
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6611731296 |
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