The generations of Britons living through the reign of George III saw basic changes in economic and social structure: industrial revolution, agricultural revolution, demographic revolution. Romanticism displaced classicism. The religious and spiritual life of the nation changed dramatically. The rise of the mass constituency, the extension of political consensus, proved the salient new political fact. Traditional institutions and relationships were not impervious to change, but extraparliarmentary political organizations forced the pace. They reflected the interests of the community far more closely than the traditional, fragmented political factions. National extraparliamentary political organizations attempted, in parliamentary constituencies, to secure the election of members pledged to a specific program. Potential supporters were organized, after a fashion, in parliament. This is the nucleus of modern party organization, platform, and propaganda.

Mr. Black examines a number of these associations—their motives, their leaders, their opponents, their means of expression and operation, their accomplishments and failures. Names such as Wilkes, Wyvill, Gordon, Jebb, and Reeves are found in cooperation with and opposition to Rockingham, Pitt, Fox, and North. Organizations such as the Associated Counties; the Protestant Association; the Society for the Commemoration of the Glorious Revolution; and the Association for the Preservation of Liberty and Property against Republicans and Levellers are represented in this narrative of eighteenth-century political history.

Eugene Chariton Black teaches history at Brandeis University.