Breaking New Ground is the latest outcome of a series of initiatives by the Family and Community Historical Research Society Limited, a charitable organisation which aims to promote and communicate research into family and community history within a scholarly framework. It is edited by Jacqueline Cooper, the project coordinator, and Jeremy Burchardt, the academic advisor. Consisting of fifteen chapters written by fourteen authors, the text is divided into three parts. Following an informative review of the project compiled by the two editors, part one provides an overall review of the achievements of the project, making a determined if, on occasions, rather contrived attempt to link together the following chapters and relate them to the prevailing wisdom. Given the number of contributors involved in the project, a more persuasive rationale for the inclusion of the different chapters would be appreciated. One surprising aspect of this section is the inclusion of the summary and conclusions of the research project rather than incorporating them into a summary chapter at the end of the text.

Part two, which is probably the most interesting and relevant section of the book, consists of six case studies focusing on the history of allotments in East Anglia, the West Country, southern England, and the Midlands. Coverage is not surprisingly dominated by case studies of the southern part of Britain. These certainly provide a wealth of new evidence about allotments in the nineteenth century, showing that they were an integral part of rural society. Allotments were not only the preserve of the rural poor but were widely used by a wide range of tradesmen, artisans and industrial workers. Part three, consisting of eight contributions, deals with a number of discrete themes: Swing riots and allotments; the moral dimension of allotment rules; allotments and newspapers; a micro-study of paupers and potatoes in respect to Loughton, Essex; allotments and Derbyshire industrial communities; the link with fuel allotments; guinea gardens; and unusual allotments. I was particularly impressed with Jacqueline Cooper's analysis of the relationship between allotments and the Swing Riots. While considerably longer than the other chapters and in parts rather abridged, it nevertheless significantly enhances our understanding of the causes of the riots of the 1830s. Other chapters of particular merit include Wendy Stevens' rather short but, under the circumstances, condensed account of the way local newspapers can enhance our understanding of the allotment movement.

Accompanying the book is a CD which provides a database of more than 3000 nineteenth-century allotment sites and the Tenants Database will provide an invaluable resource for not only local and family historians but also social historians. As with so many studies of this type, composed by a number of volunteers, there is some variability in the quality of the analysis and a tendency towards antiquarianism. These criticisms are, however, relatively minor. The book should be commended for the extensive array of local sources consulted and its contribution to enhancing the conventional wisdom about allotments. It shows that, in many parts of the country, they were an integral part of family and community life for a wide cross section of society. The text can claim with a great deal of justification to have broken new ground, although the achievements in this sphere are not quite as impressive as the first part may suggest. Nevertheless a useful start to this process has been achieved by the publication of this competitively priced book.