The Manifesto Handbook describes the hidden life of an undervalued genre: the conduit for declarations of principle, advertisements for new "isms," and provocations in pamphlet form. Often physically slight and small in scale, the manifesto is always grand in style and ambition. A bold, charismatic genre, it has founded some of the most important and revolutionary movements in modern history, from the declaration of wars and the birth of nations to the launch of countless social, political and artistic movements worldwide. Julian Hanna provides a brief genealogy of the genre, analyses its complex speaking position, traces the material process of manifesto making from production to dissemination, unpacks its extremist underbelly, and follows the twenty-first century resurgence of the manifesto as a re-politicised and reinvigorated digital form.

"This book provides a comprehensive overview of the great era of literary innovation that produced such giants as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and T. S. Eliot. Drawing on a wide selection of texts from 1890 to 1945, the volume covers the major figures studied while also introducing readers to all the essential movements and ideas of this exciting period."--BOOK JACKET.