"The Culture of English Antislavery" is an intervention in the lively international debate of recent years about the relation of anti-slavery in Britain to the deep changes of the period of the Industrial Revolution. It offers an account of the overall shape of organized anti-slavery from its beginnings in the 1780s and provides new perspectives from which to assess contending interpretations of antislavery. The evolution of antislavery is portrayed as a series of changing alliances of different and sometimes conflicting religious traditions. The successive alliances of abolitionists are analyzed through the concept of a culture of reform embracing ideology, organizational and propaganda forms and the more intimate connections and rituals which reformers used to reinforce their identity and solidarity. The result is a definition of the middle class "reform mentality" which links the antislavery work of reformers to social improvement and to campaigns for transatlantic reform. The analysis is further grounded in short narratives about reform in different communities in different moments. This book should be of interest to students and teachers of social history and cultural studies.

This book provides a fresh overall account of organised antislavery by focusing on the active minority of abolutionists throughout the country. The analysis of their culture of reform demonstrates the way in which alliances of diverse religious groups roused public opinion and influenced political leaders. The resulting definition of the distinctive `reform mentality' links antislavery to other efforts at moral and social improvement and highlights its contradictory relations to the social effects of industrialization and the growth of liberalism.

Each title in the "Literary and Cultural Movements: Sources and Documents" series concentrates on the cultural and literary area or period covering American religious movements. The three-volume set offers the student a wide range of primary source material spanning several centuries of religious experience in the United States. Access to much of this material is difficult for many students and researchers. The material is grouped thematically and chronologically. The material presented consists of original source material from the period or subject, and includes prefaces, letters, essays and critical texts from the period, as well as related material - especially complete texts. In addition, each set includes: a substantial introductory essay placing the material in context; a chronology of the period or movement noting texts and figures, as well as relating material to relevant references elsewhere; a bibliography of the texts associated with the period or movement; an extensive critical bibliography; and biographical notes on significant figures and editorial notes on the source material. This should be a useful resource for students/researchers in literature, history, religious studies, American studies, cultural studies, American politics and social studies.