My name is Marc Mulholland. I am a Fellow (lecturer and tutor) in the History Faculty of Oxford University. My College is St Catherine's. I come from Ireland.

This is a blog relating to my book published in 2012 by Oxford University Press, Bourgeois Liberty and the Politics of Fear: From Absolutism to Neo-Conservativism.
Now on sale here and here. If you want 20 per cent off the price, I can arrange that! Send me a message or leave a comment, and I'll tell you how.

The thesis my book is examining was rather pithily summarised by Leon Trotsky in 1939: "Wherever the proletariat appeared as an independent force, the bourgeoisie shifted to the camp of the counter-revolution. The bolder the struggle of the masses, the quicker the reactionary transformation of liberalism." [Context is here]

However, my book isn't a defence of Trotskyism, or indeed any particular ideology. It's a study of an idea that took shape in Left, Right, and Centre variations.

This blog has tid-bits not included in the book, and other thoughts that occur.

You can see book details at the
OUP website.



Sunday, 29 July 2012

The First Olympics and other Things

In 1896, the first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens.

The same year, the Zionist movement was founded by Theodore Herzl. The Dreyfus Affair had convinced him that Jews would never be accepted as equals in Europe.

Imperialist conflict was high on the agenda. Kaiser Wilhelm II stepped on British bunions by sending Paul Kruger, President of the Boer Republic, a telegram of congratulation for his fending off the Jameson Raid from British controlled Cape Colony. Italian imperialism was dealt a humiliating blow by its crushing military defeat at Adowa in Abyssinia. It was a better year for French imperialism: they declared Madagascar a colony.

Thomas Hardy published Jude the Obscure (Featuring the classic corny line: "Done because we are too many.")

French scientist Henri Becquerel discovered the radioactive properties of uranium. The atomic age had begun.

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