This book is a study of contemporary Radio 4 output, covering the entire broadcast day. Radio is largely neglected by media and cultural studies. The small body of existing work on Radio 4 is predominantly historical, focusing on institutional history, or sociological, focusing on contemporary BBC editorial and journalistic practices. Reading Radio 4, by contrast, analyses contemporary Radio 4 programmes entirely from the point of view of today's listener. Individual chapters correspond to all existing Radio 4 timeslots in the entire broadcast day of 19 hours 40 minutes, from 5.20am to 1.00am. The study, while academic in approach, aims to promote an informed and critical appreciation of Radio 4 for all listeners, as well as students of the media.

In her remarkable first novel Mary Barton (1848) Elizabeth Gaskell portrays city life in the 'hungry forties' of the nineteenth century.

The plot turns on Mary's romantic choice between Henry Carson, the son of a rich industrialist, and her working-class lover Jem Wilson, and the rivalries between them. The class-divide and the widening gap between rich and poor are central themes in a novel originally named after Mary's father, John Barton. A radical trades unionist, his tragedy dominates the book, and in his bitter intelligence and courage he is one of the most compelling heroes in all Elizabeth Gaskell's fiction.

In his introduction to this new edition Macdonald Daly discusses the novel's artistry and its liberal politics. 'The revolution urged by Mary Barton is a revolution in the emotional and mental dispositions of individuals towards each other ... a thoroughly idealist enterprise.'