<DIV>The nineteenth century was a time of social, political and technological ferment; perhaps especially in the 1840s and 1850s. In this book, James Gregory studies radical reform at the margins of early Victorian Britain through the life of James Elmslie Duncan, an eccentric poet living through extraordinary times: when foreign and British promoters of extravagant technologically-assisted utopias could attract many hundreds of supporters of limited means, when pioneers of vegetarianism joined the ranks of the temperance cause, and when working-class Chartists, reviving a struggle for political reform, seemed to threaten the State for a brief moment in April 1848. Gregory brings these themes and leading characters vividly to life in a study that will be essential reading for anyone interested in radical reform or popular political movements in Victorian Britain.</p></div>