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This book stages an encounter between romanticism in post-war and contemporary cinema and trends in historical materialism associated with revolutionary romantic historiography. Focused primarily on British cinema and examples of Hollywood cinema with significant relationships to British and English culture and history, it is loosely configured around three key emblematic motifs - country, land, people - that are simultaneously core values and rallying cries of distinctive varieties of conservative, restitutionist and revolutionary romanticism. The book seeks to establish the continuing relevance of the revolutionary romantic critique of capitalist modernity to contemporary political concerns such as the fate of the proletariat, populism, Brexit post-nationalism, ecocide and the Anthropocene.

This book stages an encounter between conflicting varieties of cinematic romanticism and different forms of history writing. Focused primarily on British cinema and examples of mainstream Hollywood cinema that have significant historical relationships to British and English culture and history, it is configured, loosely, around three key emblematic motifs - country, land, people - that are simultaneously core values and rallying cries of distinctive varieties of conservative, restitutionist and revolutionary romanticism. Ultimately, the book seeks to establish the continuing relevance of the revolutionary romantic critique of capitalist modernity, as it surfaces in film, to pressing contemporary political concerns such as the fate of the proletariat, populism, Brexit post-nationalism, ecocide and the Anthropocene. Paul Dave has taught at the University of East London, UK, and latterly at Teesside University, UK, where he was Reader in Film and Cultural Theory. His research focuses on the representation of class and capitalism and he has published widely on British cinema and literature.