Writing for Social Change in Temperance Periodicals Conviction and Career

"Annemarie McAllister's Writing for Social Change brings to life the dynamic counter-culture of the nineteenth-century temperance movement in Britain and broadens our received ideas about social reform literature. Temperance activists worked in a wide array of genres - from didactic tales to sensation fiction, from exhortative poetry to music hall ditties, from "thing" stories to magic lantern shows - which McAllister elucidates in a series of sensitive readings. This meticulously researched volume provides an atlas to unknown world; students of working-class literature, popular culture, and periodical studies will find it indispensable."

- Gregory Vargo, Associate Professor, New York University, USA

...' McAllister clearly lays out her aims for the book in the opening chapter. She indicates that her study will challenge preconceived ideas about the temperance movement, particularly demonstrating that it was lively, nuanced, politically important, and a mainstream part of society during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She suggests that it will argue for a more nuanced understanding of professional identity, considering the role of moral conviction alongside financial imperative. She makes clear the centrality of the temperance movement to the intersections between writing and other aspects of their service. Finally, McAllister outlines how she will trace the reworkings and republishing of temperance writings across titles and formats, demonstrating the place of this movement in the wider publishing environment. I believe she goes even beyond achieving all of these aims and lays incredibly solid groundwork on which future scholars can build.'...

--Gaskell, Beth. Victorian Popular Fictions, 6.1 (Spring): 133-5. ISSN: 2632-4253

'Annemarie McAllister makes the case for periodical research as a guide to temperance imagination and action, using the writing of four male and three female authors to develop a varied chronology of temperance activism in the United Kingdom between1830 and 1930. McAllister makes the vital point that temperance was dominant among reform campaigns, allowing members to hone their skills, develop activist networks, and influence other causes. Sobriety and self improvement were a way to move on and up in life.' ...

-_David Beckingham, University of Nottingham. The Social History of Alcohol and Drugs Volume 38, Number 1

'McAllister successfully demythologises the temperance movement and its champions via an exploration of "untold or marginalised histories" in this eye-opening "re-evaluation of their place in the history of print culture, and Victorian culture more generally" (164). The revealing intersection between performance, public entertainment, and political activism is a particularly compelling and original component of the argument. The book also makes an important contribution to understandings of the nineteenth-century journalist, appealing to readers interested in periodical studies, Victorian studies, and working-class history. The depth of research suggests that this is only scratching the surface: there are many more questions to ask about these writers and the "demands of editorship," more pseudonyms to decipher, and many other figures beyond the scope of this study (158). McAllister's work will certainly act as an important springboard for future research, inviting deeper consideration of the periodical networks influenced by the temperance movement and the forgotten figures devoted to the drive towards social change.'

--Emma Liggins. Victorian Periodicals Review 56, no. 3 (2023): 513 516