Description
Book SynopsisAre sex scandals simply trivial distractions from serious issues or can they help democratize politics? Looking at six major British scandals between 1763 and 1820, this book demonstrates that scandals brought people into politics because they evoked familiar stories of sex and betrayal.
Trade Review"Between 1760 and 1820, scandal was a serious business, for both press and politicians, so it is appropriate for a historian to take it seriously now. Anna Clark ... brings important issues of political history from the margins to the centre. The real scandal, as this book shows, lay in the much-vaunted British constitution, which concentrated power in political and social elites while leaving the mass of the people, especially women, without representation."--Norma Clarke, Times Literary Supplement "Scandal is a serious and well-researched academic study... An interesting and informative book."--Library Journal "Clark's fascinating book explores English political scandals ... during the period 1760 to 1820... [T]his is a rich and important work, a fine example of the new political history that is certain to stimulate thinking not only about Hanoverian scandal but also about the significance--and the some times progressive consequences--of political scandal in the modern world."--Alastair Bellany, American Historical Review "[H]ighly interesting and entertaining."--John Garrard, Reviews in History
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Abbreviations xiii CHAPTER ONE Introduction 1 CHAPTER TWO Wilkes, Sexuality, and Liberty: How Scandal Transforms Politics 19 CHAPTER THREE Influence or Independence: Women and Elections, 1777-1788 53 CHAPTER FOUR Edmund Burke and the Begums of Oudh: Gender, Empire, and Public Opinion 84 CHAPTER FIVE Scandal in an Age of Revolution 113 CHAPTER SIX From Petticoat Influence to Women's Rights? 126 CHAPTER SEVEN The Mary Anne Clarke Affair and the System of Corruption 148 CHAPTER EIGHT Queen Caroline and the Sexual Politics of the British Constitution 177 CHAPTER NINE Sexual Scandals and Politics, Past and Present 208 Notes 225 Index 301
