1.This book gives a valuable insight into the alternative world of UK temperance periodicals, some of the largest-circulation publications of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

2. It reinstates undeservedly neglected writers such as Hoyle, Glasspool and Forrester to the historical record, introducing them to new audiences.

3. It establishes the importance of writing for performance and explores the large market for this in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

4. The book brings to life the complex relationship between a passion for social reform and the opportunity to extend and develop a writer’s powers.