Chartism inspired a prodigious literary output, based on its own newspapers and journals. However, while some Chartist political writings have been reprinted, the aesthetic texts of the movement have largely been neglected. This selection of short stories and extracts from longer fiction aims to remedy this situation and covers a diversity of authors, genres and themes.

Ian Haywood has written a cogent and wide-ranging review of the Chartist movement and its literature as an introduction to this collection of little-known and revealing stories. The fiction is divided into the following areas: the condition of England, Ireland, revolution, women and Chartism itself.