Harriet Martineau

<p>Harriet Martineau responds to the strong revival of interest in her life and writing exploring Martineau's controversial views through her innovative use of popular cultural forms-journalism travel writing didactic fiction novels translation autobiography and history. This is the first collection of essays to revisit and reassess Martineau's leading place in Victorian culture and in the development of nineteenth-century liberalism. Distinguished contributors-including Isobel Armstrong Lauren Goodlad Catherine Hall Deborah Logan and Linda Peterson-offer critical analyses of her trailblazing career as a professional 'woman of letters'.<br><br>The essays collected here move from personal to global concerns in Martineau's oeuvre. The opening essays centre on her bold self-fashioning as a writer while the second section focuses on the domestic complexities of laissez-faire liberalism in her economic and social vision. Finally the volume analyses her provocative writings on race Empire and history - from Atlantic slavery to the Indian Mutiny - demonstrating the international breadth and impact of a remarkable career.</p>