Engines of Mischief explores the day-to-day labor, economic, political, and social climate at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in Manchester, England, between 1817 and 1818. Using new economic theories of the time, parliamentary commissions, and news reports, students will engage with crucial issues of the day, debating factory conditions and child labor; the role of the government in the economy, taxation, workers' unions; and the extension of political rights down the social hierarchy. In the game, by assuming the roles of historical actors from various classes of society, students are faced with choices about how to live and prosper during this period of great technological, economic, and social transformation. Will the working class violently resist new technology in factories, form unions, or join radical political clubs to improve their working conditions and protect their rights? How best will middle-class entrepreneurs run their enterprises; will they provide fair treatment to their workers or simply maximize their profit? How will the aristocrats maintain their power in government and society? Will they support the middle or the working classes?

Robert Southey's Essays Moral and Political, originally published in 1832, brings together many of Southey’s most influential journal pieces, providing important evidence for students of the political and literary culture of the Romantic period. Edited by Tim Fulford, this volume features a full introduction and detailed editorial notes setting the Essays in their contexts. The volume sets the Essays in the context of the political and social issues and controversies on which they comment, and will be of great interest to students and scholars of Literary and Political History.