"Paul of Leary's Claiming the Streets is a glorious read, a magnificent scholarly achievement, and a stunning new contribution to urban history and our understanding of urban cultures and public space in the nineteenth century. Drawing on an impressively rich range of primary material, O'Leary explores the changing nature of civic ceremonials between 1830 and 1880, and the variety of responses to them, with admirable perception and sensitivity to continuities and changes. This innovative and richly nuanced study will be essential reading for anyone interested in the dynamics of nineteenth century processions and their interactions with urban space and urban development.".