When people think about radical Manchester in the 19th century, they always talk about Peterloo, and rightly so. They talk about the Pankhursts or the first meeting of Trades Union’s Congress, a proud industrial city. They forget about the many of Manchester’s forgotten reformers and their reform movements, such as the Blanketeers’ and the Chartists to name but a few. Rob Hargraves and Alan Hampson have gone some way to change that, with this excellent book, Beyond Peterloo, highlighting one radical, people may have forgotten, but history has not, and he is more than a footnote. Elijah Dixon, often referred to as Manchester’s Ambassador, was a radical, who had been imprisoned for the Blanketeers’ march in 1817 and who took an active part in Manchester politics for over 60 years. The book examines the many imbalances and injustices that provoked many Mancunians to react and demand a new political settlement. This demand would eventually lead to the Yeomanry slicing the people of Manchester down on St Peter’s Field in 1819. What you learn from this book that Elijah Dixon was no political salon radical of privilege but was on the streets. He was at the centre of a network of political agitators, demonstrators, pamphleteers, a grassroots organiser. While others may have sat in nicely lit rooms with a polite audience, Dixon worked the slums, where the streets were mean and stray dogs went around, in packs for safety. While the book may sound like it is looking at is gloom, the authors have managed to bring all the characters, those earlier reformers to life, from the serious to the comedic. There is also an appendix which gives pen portraits of some of the people mentioned within the book, some people are known but the majority are not. As someone who has been active in investigating Manchester’s history this book will add to the historiography of the city. It will inform many, a starting point for other to begin their own research. Manchester has been crying out for this book for years and is a very welcome addition.