Masks Of Anarchy: The History Of A Radical Poem, From Percy Shelley To The Triangle Factory Fire

Authors: Demson, Michael
Publisher: Verso Books
BISAC/Subject: HIS037060, LIT014000, CGN007000
ISBN: 9781781682296, Related ISBNs: 1781680981, 1781682291, 9781781680988, 9781781682296
Classification: Fiction
Number of pages: 128,
Audience: General/trade
Synopsis: Masks of Anarchy tells the extraordinary story of Percy Shelley’s poem “The Masque
of Anarchy,” from its conception in Italy and suppression in England to the moment it became a
catalyst for protest among New York City workers a century later.

Shelley penned the poem in 1819, after hearing of the Peterloo Massacre, where British cavalry
charged peaceful political demonstrators near Manchester. His words would later inspire figures
as wide-ranging as Henry David Thoreau and Mahatma Gandhi—and also Pauline Newman, the
woman the New York Times called the “New Joan of Arc” in 1907. Newman was a Jewish immigrant who worked in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, and came to be a leading organizer—and
the first female organizer—of one of America’s most powerful unions, the International Ladies’
Garment Workers’ Union. As she marched with tens, sometimes hundreds of thousands of New
Yorkers in the streets, Shelley’s poem never ceased to inspire her.
“Shake your chains to earth like dew,” it implores. “Ye are many—they are few.”
Sign up for our literacy platform for reading at home

LightSail includes up to 6,000 high interest, Lexile aligned book titles with every student subscription. Other titles are available for individual purchase.

Watch the power of

Lightsail in action

×

SUPPORT GROWING READERS

Immediately Engage Students
Immediately Engage Students
Simple intuitive design has classrooms reading within minutes.
Exponentially Grow Reading Time
Exponentially Grow Reading Time
Students love the LightSail experience and naturally spend more time reading.
Accelerate Literacy Development
Accelerate Literacy Development
Students reading 25 minutes a day on LightSail are seeing 2+ years of Lexile growth in a single year.

LightSail Education is a comprehensive Lexile and standards-aligned, literacy platform and digital e-book library. Including multimodal learning functionality and featuring books from leading publishers, LightSail holistically assesses and nurtures each student on their reading and writing-to-learn journey, throughout elementary, middle, and high school.

*LightSail offers a 2,000 or a 6,000 title bundle with its student subscriptions. Other titles are available for individual purchase.