Book excerpt: 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.