• The lure of violence
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The lure of violence

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This book offers a novel interpretation of conservative and right-wing responses to the Edwardian crisis in Britain (1901-1914). It stresses how the upsurge of right-wing extremism within and outsi...
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  • 04 November 2025
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This book provides a comprehensive examination of conservative and right-wing responses to the Edwardian crisis in Britain (1901-1914). It stresses how the upsurge of right-wing extremism within and outside the Conservative party was accompanied by the crystallization of a culture of violence. The preparation, instigation or threatening of violent acts against all those who appeared to threaten the organic nature and vigour of the national community found expression in a myriad of ultra-nationalist organisations, citizen policing groups, private military associations, and paramilitary formations. The book innovatively reconstructs the belief system and the practices of those right-wing actors, which pursued the goals of military preparedness, “racial regeneration” and imperial unity, while defending the amorphous goals of authority, order and ‘national efficiency’ against the forces of radicalism and socialism. The book helps to cast light on the bellicose and authoritarian reflexes that traversed British conservatism in the turbulent prewar years.
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Price: £25.00
Pages: 336
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Imprint: Manchester University Press
Publication Date: 04 November 2025
ISBN: 9781526164872
Format: Hardcover
BISACs:

HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / 20th Century, Violence and abuse in society, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Violence in Society, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Ideologies / Nationalism & Patriotism, Violence, intolerance and persecution in history, History: specific events and topics, Right-of-centre democratic ideologies
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Introduction
1 How to shoot a rifle: the civilian rifle club movement and the problem of British military preparedness, 1899-1914
2 Custodians of the Empire: The Legion of Frontiersmen, 1904-1914
3 Race regeneration: nativist impulses and the drive for physical efficiency
4 ‘The revolt of the good citizens:’ Free Labour and practices of patriotic strikebreaking, 1901-1914
5 ‘Carson’s two armies:’ The Ulster Volunteer Force and The British League for the Support of Ulster and the Union
Epilogue: The legacy of the Edwardian revolt and the spectre of proto-fascism