A scholarly study of the polemical press of the 1740s, and a substantial investigation of the complex politics of that decade for a generation. The book contributes to knowledge of political ideology and party strife in the 18th century, and of the working press.

Part 1 National politics and the London press: the press, Parliament and popular opinion; patriots, old Whigs, and nominal Tories. Part 2 The London press and the war of the Austrian succession: the press and the conduct of foreign policy; the fall of Walpole and the outbreak of war 1740-1742; the Carteret and Hanover 1742-1744; the broad-bottom ministry and the Jacobite rebellion 1745-1746; war or peace 1746-1748.

`a major contribution to the area ... The chief attraction for social historians will be the mass of useful material for further work.' Social History Society Bulletin 'The thrust of the argument is the more effective for being deliberately understated, often merely implicit ... A Patriot Press is a significant study of a neglected decade ... his book is scholarly and well written, a worthy product of the Paul Langford research school' Times Literary Supplement 'This book makes important contributions to the study of mid-eighteenth-century England ... It is not the least of the many virtues of this book that it should serve to stimulate further argument and research on this topic.' P.A. Luff, Wellington College, Parliamentary History, 13,3 (1994) 'fine book...a detailed case study of the press in the hitherto neglected decade of the 1740s... this lucid and well constructed book is a sound and sensible study which will stand as an important corrective to some of the wilder claims made by revisionists in recent years about the nature and conduct of eighteenth-century politics. H. V. Bowen, Early Modern History `this is an interesting and useful book...and will contribute to the continuing debate about the relationship of print and politics in the eighteenth century.' British Journal for Eighteenth Century Studies `It is in handling the complex relationship between the press, Patriot opposition groups and the unfolding military and diplomatic scene in Europe that the author makes his most confident and telling contributions.' EHR