Strikwerda makes his case with an impressive command of comparative European political history.

D. G. Troyansky, Texas Tech University, Choice Reviews

One of the finest books on Belgium to appear in many years. It will be of great interest to French and German historians as well as Belgian scholars.

Kenneth Barkin, University of California, Riverside

Strikwerda's insightful analyses of Belgian society and politics transform our understandings of the social and political history of the industrial age.

Donald Reid, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Strikwerda's authoritative study of the political emergence of the working class in Belgium makes a major contribution to the history of the beginnings of mass politics in the period between about 1870 and 1914.

Hugh Mcleod, The University of Birmingham, United Kingdom

A model of patient historical reconstruction.

Kenneth D. McRae, Carleton University

An original and thoroughly researched study . . . it fills a sizable gap in the history of modern Europe.

John Merriman, Yale University