Rebecca?s Country: A Welsh Story of Riot and Resistance

A study of the Rebecca movement's fight against high taxation and poverty in nineteenth-century Wales.

In nineteenth-century Wales, a protest took place like no other. Burdened by punishing tolls and desperate for their livelihoods, protestors dramatically cross-dressed in carnivalesque costumes to attack the tollbooths. Inspired by the enigmatic biblical figure of Rebecca, they went on to attack other symbols of injustice, redistribute wealth, and clash with both local authorities and the national government.

In Rebecca’s Country, historian Rhian E. Jones explores the background, chronology, and achievements of the Rebecca movement. She offers a glimpse into the lives of ordinary people and how they responded to the sweeping and severe changes of the early nineteenth century, telling the human stories behind this dramatic history.

Rhian E. Jones is a writer, critic, and broadcaster from South Wales. She is co-editor of Red Pepper and writes for Tribune magazine. Her books include Clampdown: Pop-Cultural Wars on Class and Gender; Petticoat Heroes: Gender, Culture and Popular Protest, Triptych: Three Studies of Manic Street Preachers’ The Holy Bible; the anthology Under My Thumb: Songs That Hate Women and the Women Who Love Them; and Paint Your Town Red: How Preston Took Back Control and Your Town Can Too.