In his remarkable new book, Patrick Joyce confirms his position as amongst the most inventive and rigorous social historians writing today. Creatively employing and developing Foucault's conceptions of governmentality, he uses a wealth of fascinating historical material to show how the nineteenth-century city and its citizens were made governable in the name of freedom ... This book will become a standard reference for all those interested in the history of the liberal city, and a major conceptual contribution for all those seeking to understand the relations of power and freedom in contemporary society.

- Nikolas Rose, Professor of Sociology, London School of Economics and Political Science,

There is no one writing whose feet are so firmly in the streets of the past and whose head is so creatively engaged with ways of formulating it. A joy to read.

- David Vincent, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Social History, Keele University,