Product Description

This is the dramatic and shocking story of the long, hard-won battle for the vote, and of the slow erosion of its power that followed. In a vast narrative sweep that takes us from the English Civil War to the present day, Foot traces the struggle for universal suffrage, and shows how concern for property first delayed and then fatally hobbled the movement towards parliamentary democracy. Both authoritative history and rousing polemic, this is a must-read for anyone interested in how today's political scene was shaped.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #246824 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

Francis Wheen, Guardian
'Exhilarating, passionate, energetic and invincibly cheerful’

John Pilger
'Foot at the height of his powers. Here is the superb journalist, historian, advocate again saying the unsayable'

Roy Hattersley, Scotland on Sunday
‘A work of true scholarship ... irresistibly readable’

Customer Reviews

Essential reading
How strongly can I emphasise the importance of this book? Instead of ancient egyptians and the roman empire, this is the sort of history - and political education - that I wish I'd had at school. It is vital.

Foot begins with the civil war of the 17th century - when the army's leaders shrunk from obtaining universal suffrage - moves through the shocking lack of any increase in suffrage during the 200 years following, then through the Chartists' small advances in the 19th century to the impact of the suffragettes and labour movement of the early 20th. Along the way he shatters a number of myths, including the reasons for women being given the vote (their economic rise during WWI was crucial).

In the second half he chronicles the depressing frustrations encountered by (Labour) governments in trying to create a more democratic society, as financiers and unelected bodies like the IMF forced policies on them they hadn't been elected to push through, ending with New Labour's rejection of social democratic policy and the current choice between two conservative parties.

So what constructive solutions does he offer? Hope, he argues, comes from strike action and the anti-capitalist movement - movement from below, rather than actions on high. In this we can only hope.

Why the vote matters.
I read this book, and from the start was gripped with the passion Paul Foot expressed with this fascinating subject. A right we all take for granted, but sadly not enough exercise, has been examined and we have been given a clear insight to the people, some famous, others not so well known, who fought for the right of all to vote.
This is a book that I will return to time after time. I recommend this to anyone who cares about the world we live in.