«Richard Wrigley's achievement in this absorbing study is to delve behind the stereotypes through which the dress of the French revolutionary period has customarily been interpreted. Through giving detailed attention to such privileged items as the cockade, the Phrygian bonnet and the revolutionary relic, he demonstrates conclusively that these features did not function as stable symbols, but revealed in their everyday use the deep contradictions of a society striving to reinvent its civil identity. S Bann, University of Bristol [A] fascinating study of the changing meaning of appearances from 1789 to the Napoleonic period. London Review of Books One could leaf through this work for a long time erudite, clearly constructed and illustrative, Richard Wrigley's book will bring a great deal to all who specialise in the cultural history of French Revolution. Annales Historiques de la Revolution Francaise The Politics of Appearances assembles the most detailed research to reveal the vulnerability of clothing associated with Revolutionary politics. The Times Literary Supplement An exemplary work of scholarship. History 'The Politics of Appearances' provides an invaluable resource for scholars and students in a range of fields from eighteenth-century studies to the histories of fashion. Most significantly, it provides an inspiring account of revolutionary political culture in the making. Journal of Modern History»