Book Description
"Thompson's book has been called controversial, but perhaps only because so many have forgotten how explosive England was during the Regency and the early reign of Victoria. Without any reservation,
The Making of the English Working Class is the most important study of those days since the classic work of the Hammonds."--Commentary
"Mr. Thompson's deeply human imagination and controlled passion help us to recapture the agonies, heroisms and illusions of the working class as it made itself. No one interested in the history of the English people should fail to read his book."--London Times Literary Supplement
Customer Reviews:
An Indispensable Classic.......2006-08-18
An Indispensable Classic that will be of interest to anyone interested in how the"modern" world has come about.
A Classic in the Field of Social and Labor History.......2003-12-28
Well, it took me darn near a month to finish this monster (800+ pages) of a book. Can't say I regret the experience, though. Truly , this is a masterpiece, both in terms of its substance and its approach. I could quite easily write more then a thousand words on this book, but hey, this is Amazon, right?
Before I begin, I would like to state up front that I am not a historian or a graduate student of history. Please forgive me if my review contains incorrect statements.
"The Making of the English Working Class" is precisely what its (awkward) title describes: a history of the developments leading to the emergence of the modern industrial working class in England (and Scotland, sort of. Wales and Ireland are excluded, although Irish immigrants living in England to figure in some parts of the book). The time period covered is roughly the 1790's to the 1840's. Thompson starts with a description of "Dissent", discusses the influence of the French Revolution on that tradition (Dissent), spends a good chunk of the book describing the effect of the industrial revolution on the lives and lifestyles of the workers in industrial England, and then spends an equal amount of time describing the reaction of the workers and their leaders to this adjustment in circumstances.
Along the way, Thompson takes a hatchet to historians on the left, right, and center. His section on the change in circumstances of the workers in England is most critical of writers like F.A. Hayek, i.e. those writers who try to say that the industrial revolution "wasn't that bad" or "wasn't bad at all" for the workers. He devotes a good part of Part II of the book to attacking the methods of statistical or economic history. His preference is to use documentary evidence of the time. In this way, the book (published in the 60's) is a forerunner of historical "postmodernism"(Oh, please forgive me for the term), where authors abandon "objective" evidence (economic statistics) in favor of "subjective" evidence (pamphlets, letters and newspapers).
I guess that's hardly a revolutinary arguement now-a-day, but back then, I can hardly imagine.
His section on the reaction of workers to the industrial revolution is rather more critical to historians of the left and center, who sought to discount the violence associated with the Luddite movement as somehow unrepresentative of the working class movement in England. Thompson's revisionist history of the Luddite movement is a tour de force. Really, it's breathtaking.
In my opinion, the book kind of loses steam after that section. Thompson has some harsh words for the London based "leaders" of the workers movement, and I felt his discussion of Owenism left too much to the readers imagination. I don't suppose this book was meant for someone with only a loose grounding in English history, but none the less, that's what I have, so I'm just stuck.
To the extent that I have anything critical to say about this book, it's that Thompson at times presupposes a graduate level education in English history. I haven't read AJP Taylor or Hayek or any of the other authors Thompson attacks. IN the end, though, I felt like it didn't hurt my enjoyment of this book. I would highly recommend it, although you should set aside a good chunk of time to make your way from beginning to end.
More on the Peter Smith edition of E.P. Thompson.......2002-12-02
One of America's best small independent publishing houses is---Peter Smith of Gloucester, Massachusetts! The individual's name is also the name of the company, which explains the incorrect ID by the earlier reviewer.
For many years Peter Smith (man & company) has provided reprints of essential scholarly and other works in affordable hardcover editions. The only way to continue this helpful service is by keeping production costs low, which occasionally leads to the regrettable results detailed below. The resulting profit margins are too low to interest the goliaths of the book world, but scholars and other customers (not to mention libraries with tight acquisition budgets) are profoundly grateful for what is perhaps as much a public service as a business decision. Why not order their catalog and give 'em some much-needed business? You'll probably spot other worthwhile classics....For instance, my library includes James Malin, "Grassland of North America" and Wesley Frank Craven, "Soil Exhaustion as a Factor in the Agricultural History of Virginia & Maryland," two fine early environmental histories that are virtually impossible to find apart from Peter Smith's editions.
I hope this isn't being too hard on the earlier reviewer, but I thought the matter needed clarification. The earlier reviewer's disappointment surely reflects his admiration for EP Thompson's work, which I certainly share---it's arguably the greatest history of the 20th century.
Correction to inanity of other reviews.......2001-12-20
Thompson's book is THE ground-breaking work of social history for our century, pioneering in the "history of everyday life" (also taken up by Foucault, de Certeau, Davis, etc.); the history of working people; and the consideration of culture in the past. Unlike most other social history it is also brilliantly written and accessible. Buy it.
The hardback of the Making.......2001-08-13
Buyers beware of the hardback version of E. P Thompson's classic work "The Making of the English Working Class". Firstly, note that the hardback is a 1966 edition. This means that is does not have Thompson's 1968 postscript, nor his 1980 preface (it probably also misses the author's 1968 revisions, but I have not checked this). Secondly, this is not an organically produced hardback: the picture on the cover is glued on, and the spine does not have the author's name (instead, it has the name "Peter Smith" - so who the hell is Peter Smith?). All in all, a shocker for purists, or any serious scholar, made all the worse for the magnificence of the original.
Average customer rating:
- The most powerful indictment of 19th century capitalism in existence
- Engels' Expose' on 'How the Other-Half Lived' .
- Awesome
- A visit to the Dark Satanic Mills of England
- Engels
|
The Condition of the Working Class in England (Penguin Classics)
Friedrich Engels , and
Victor Kiernan
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Labor & Industrial Relations
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Labor & Industrial Relations
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Class
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Minority Studies
| Special Groups
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| England
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
19th Century
| England
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ireland
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Social History
| Historical Study
| History
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0140444866 |
Book Description
The Condition of the Working Class in England is the best known work of Engels, and still in many ways the best study of the working class in Victorian England. What Cobbett had done for agricultural poverty in his Rural Rides, Engels did - and more - in this work on the plight of industrial workers in England in the 1840s.
Download Description
Engels' meticulous study of the urban working class in 1844 is a harrowing account of life in the slums of the new industrialised cities of Britain. A work of intense journalistic brilliance and political importance.
Customer Reviews:
The most powerful indictment of 19th century capitalism in existence.......2006-09-30
Friedrich Engels' classic "The Condition of the Working Class in England" was written when he was only twenty-four, and had but recently abandoned his Calvinist upbringing for a more critical, socialist, point of view. Yet this book reads as if it were written by an experienced political commentator or a radical sociologist, without actually at any point becoming melodramatic or dense.
Engels' main purpose is to confront the bourgeoisie with the reality of their mode of production and to contrast this with the rhetoric of "free choice" and "civil liberties", as well as the capitalist apologia of the political economists of his day, in particular Andrew Ure. With great insight into both the causes and effects of the capitalist system, Engels catalogues the endless want, filth, despair and misery experienced by millions of labourers every day in 19th century England. He pays attention to housing, to factory safety, to unionism, to the physical condition of the workers, to alcoholism, the state of the Irish underclass, to prostitution and disease; in short, all the ills attendant on industrialization.
What gives this book such power is that Engels on the one hand proceeds in an analytical manner, making use above all of sources from the bourgeoisie itself and from Parliamentary reports, in explaining the functioning of the capitalist system and the competition between capitalists and between labourers. On the other hand, he writes in a particularly readable manner and at no point bores the reader with the mere summing-up of statistics. On the contrary, every analytical truth is accompanied by a vivid description, taken from Engels' excursions into working-class neighbourhoods, of the terrible state of humanity that the economic laws of capitalism cause for a great number of people.
For those interested in political economy, it may come as a surprise to see how much of the functioning of capitalism Engels already understood at such an early point in the development of theory. This gives the lie to the many theorists who would later claim that it was Marx only who worked on economics and that Engels was a mere epigone; this book should be a vindication of Engels. His later sketches of the political economy and of the historical development of capitalism would lay the foundation for both the Communist Manifesto and Marx' economic works. But the core insights that would create the modern theory of socialism are for the first time fully expressed here, and in a most appealing and shockingly effective manner.
In other words, an absolute must read for every person of intelligence.
Engels' Expose' on 'How the Other-Half Lived' ........2006-09-23
This chilling book is the real-life Oliver Twist exposed.I think Fredrick Engels wrote this book,in part to clear his conscious.And largely, to shed light on the fetid ,wretched underbelly of the 19th century industrial-age society.The nameless toilers working ten to twelve hour shifts,in a factory operation they had no vote or control over.Marx and Engels had many valid arguments for improving the workers lives.Did their end-results justify their means of social revolution? Engels would be amazed at the former textile towns,like Manchester,absorbing the large influx of Asians,Moslims and Africans today.It is still being debated,whether history has proven Engels & Marx right.This book is still a historical classic,thats presumptive findings give the modern reader,reason to pause. So,look all around you. -A Great Book !
Awesome.......2004-05-21
Fabuous book. Engels wrote this when he was only 24- and what a tour de force.
The work is detailed, beautifully observed and elegantly written. Despite the depressing nature of the subject matter, the tone is always possible about a better world beyond the evils of capitalism.
Unfortunately 150 years after this masterpiece was written things dont seen to have gotten better under capitalism. Rather, the old evils of poverty, infectious diseases, starvation have been replaced by the modern evils of capitalism: obesity, alienation, mass materialism, depression, plunging fertility and marriage rates and so on...
A visit to the Dark Satanic Mills of England.......2003-02-12
Engels was the engine behind Karl Marx, one that gave him all the support he could, so to permit Marx to dedicate himself almost completely to the completion of his works. Judging himself many degrees bellow Marx in terms of intelect, Engels nonetheless is capable of writting a book such as this which describes all the impoverishment of the working class in the beginning of the industrialization in England, being helped by some well porputed factories labor fiscalization agents who allowed Engels to flip trough their reports. Strong terms like "the dark satanic mills" describe fully what were the working conditions of the time in a so rich country as England. An historical document lest no one forget what can happen again if the free hand of capitalism is allowed to run free of any barriers.
Engels.......2000-09-03
In this book, Karl Marx's friend and collaborator Friedrich Engels describes the lives of England's laboring classes in the worst days of the industrial revolution. This includes dangerous working conditions, meager pay, child labor and explotation. Being the son of the owner of a textile factory, Engels knew of these conditions first hand. In these days it was said that the fastest way out of Manchester was a bottle of gin. This book contains images that are pathetic in the true sense of word, one catches glimpes of life so wretched that they are scarely belivable. Writings such as this one eventually exposed the misery of the working classes and had a profound influence on socialists and labor movement leaders. The book is a tour-de-force and truly speaks for it's self.
Average customer rating:
|
Poor Women's Lives: Gender, Work, and Poverty in Late-Victorian London
Andrew August
Manufacturer: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Labor Policy
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Labor & Industrial Relations
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Feminist Theory
| Women's Studies
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Women's Studies
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| England
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
London
| England
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Women in History
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0838638074 |
Average customer rating:
|
Engels, Manchester, and the Working Class
Steven Marcus
Manufacturer: W W Norton & Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Social Groups
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Minority Studies
| Special Groups
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| England
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
19th Century
| England
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0393302377 |
Book Description
1861 milestone in sociology presents fascinating direct testimony of beggars, thieves, low working class of Victorian England. Over 80 illus. Most extensive work of its kind. Two-vol. Set. Volumes II and III.
Customer Reviews:
Indispensable: Portraits of Victorian Working Class People.......2004-09-15
This review refers to the Penguin Classics edition of Henry Mayhew's 'London Labour and the London Poor' which is an abridged version of the original four volume version published in 1851-52.
Though Henry Mayhew wrote several novels, his name is primarily remembered as the author/complier of this journalistic work 'London Labour and the London Poor.' The present selection gives the best part of the original four volume book, which captures exactly what the title says -- London labour and the poverty-stricken people living there.
The selction includes some figures or statistics about the working class people, such as the estimated amount of money these workers gain every day (and meagre one), but the most interesting part is the first-hand records about the ways of life of various lines of works in London, directly taken from the people engaged in these works.
The jobs (and some of them hardly deserve the name 'jobs') recorded here are, to name a few, street-sellers such as fried fish, watercresses, matches, baked potatoes, etc.; street-buyers such as old clothes or 'dust'; street-performers like 'conjurors,' musicians, or fire-eaters (with his own descriptions about how to eat fire), but the most fascinating is the records about boys (and some girls) who run away from parents, and lives in the street of London, who literally lives by begging or stealing.
Many interesting facts are recorded by Mayhew (or his assistants), directly from the persons the book deals with, and the original words spoken by there labourers are preserved as much as possible. To read, or to listen to them is one of the greatest merits of the book, for the languages of the interviewees retain the peculiar speeches you find in many Dickensian characters, and in fact you will realize that Dickens didn't exaggerate when he created Sam Weller.
And the London you see here is the London Charles Dickens knew. What did Jo in 'Bleak House' was sweeping in the street? Who gave that permission? What is the nature of 'the dust' you hear in 'Our Mutual Friend'? What was the regulations of the 'workhouse'? All these thing are answered in this vividly realized collections of the Victorian working class portraits.
This book is still a valuable source for anyone who is interested in Victorian period, and will be. Buy one now.
Look up "humour" in the Britannica. This is it........1999-08-17
Henry Mayhew, having created this delightful encyclopoedia of humanity, has probably been ripped off more frequently than any writer since Shakespeare. His characters are so animated they have jumped full-fleshed from the pages of his books into the works of many another humorist or novelist, and we all owe more to him than we can know.
While the living conditions suffered by the poor were truly deplorable, Mayhew might have enjoyed the company of street people more than that of his peers. He put so much life into his characters we can see them, hear them, smell them. I only wonder what the street people thought about Mr. Mayhew, the journalist who bought them beers,inveigled invitations to tea, listened tirelessly to their stories. Mayhew is neither sentimental nor brutal, but rather a true and tolerant humourist, and I believe that, for all the misery depicted, his work was undertaken with great, and contagious, joy.
A must-read for those interested in Victorian England.......1999-07-10
Henry Mayhew, founder of Punch magazine, wrote this four-volume sociological classic during the 1850's. If you are at all interested in the Victorian era, in British history, in London, or in urban history in general, this is a must-read. The Penguin version is abridged and is a distillation of the "best" of the multiple-volume set. This distillation is itself over 500 pages, so imagine the impact of the entire set! The utter destitution of the London poor is set out in such vivid detail than one cannot help being shocked at the conditions human beings were forced to live in in the greatest city of its time. The only fault I find with this book is Mayhew's occasional lapses into preaching. Otherwise a fine book
Average customer rating:
- Well, let's talk about this, shall we??
|
Affluent Workers Revisited: Privatism and the Working Class (Edinburgh Education and Society)
Fiona Devine
Manufacturer: Edinburgh University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
History
| Subjects
| Books
| Africa
| Americas
| Ancient
| Arctic & Antarctica
| Asia
| Audiobooks
| Australia & Oceania
| Books on CD
| Books on Cassette
| Europe
| Gay & Lesbian
| Historical Study
| Large Print
| Middle East
| Military
| Military Science
| Russia
| United States
| World
International
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0748603700 |
Customer Reviews:
Well, let's talk about this, shall we??.......1999-08-13
Um, I'm not sure if this author is aware of how she is betraying both Women and minorities in this book. Working class individuals who are Women, as well as minorities, are suffering from the white male paradigms of selfishness like never before. This book won't state the obvious: that white male sexism and racism are preventing the creation of a fair and just society.
Average customer rating:
|
Class Formation and Urban Industrial Society: Bradford, 17501850
Theodore Koditschek
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| England
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
19th Century
| England
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ireland
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Western
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
History
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Social Situations
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Social Groups
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Europe
| History
| Humanities
| New & Used Textbooks
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0521327717 |
Book Description
An examination of the process by which a capitalist society emerged in Bradford. Bradford was a small market town of about 4000 inhabitants in 1750 and by 1850 it had become a major industrial city of 100,000, the international centre of worsted production and trade.
Customer Reviews:
Brian Wells, Esquire, reviews "Collected Works" Vol. 4.......1998-01-04
This is Volume 4 of the historic 50 volume set of everything ever written by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. The mammoth undertaking was initiated by International Publishers of New York City in 1975 and continued until all 50 volumes were published.
Volume 4 covers the years 1844 thru 1845 and contains "The Holy Family" written by Marx and Engels jointly and "The Condition of the Working Class in England" written by Engels alone and which was drawn from his series of articles called "The Condition in England" published in Volume 3 of this edition.
Book Description
Following World War II, chemical companies and agricultural experts promoted the use of synthetic chemicals such as DDT, which had been developed to help the military fight typhoid and malaria abroad, as pesticides on weeds and insects. It was, Pete Daniel points out, a convenient way for companies to apply their wartime research to the domestic market. In Toxic Drift, Daniel documents the particularly disastrous effects this campaign had on the South's public health and environment, exposing the careless mentality that allowed pesticide application to swerve out of control over twenty-five years.
Millions of tons of highly toxic chemicals spread over the South, much of them from crop dusters. The quest to destroy pests, Daniel contends, unfortunately outran research on insect resistance, ignored environmental damage, and downplayed the dangers of residue accumulation and threats to fish, wildlife, domestic animals, and humans. He tells a story of bureaucratic perfidy, scientific hubris, and corporate irresponsibility as he relates specific cases of chemical exposure and poisoning—including fish kills in the Mississippi River, ducks falling dead from the sky, and farm animals destroyed by bungled, overzealous attempts to wipe out fire ants.
Daniel explains how the Agricultural Research Service, a Federal entity charged with regulating pesticides, allowed dangerous formulations to be sold and often failed to enforce proper labeling. Objections to the undisciplined use of synthetic pesticides from Rachel Carson, Clarence Cottam, and other critics went unheeded. The consequences for human health were staggering: death and severe debilitation.
Using legal sources, archival records, newspapers, and congressional hearings, Daniel constructs a moving, fact-filled account of the use, abuse, and regulation of pesticides from World War II until 1970. Toxic Drift recounts an important episode in ecological history as it cautions against not only the continued threat of pesticides but also the dangers surrounding newer issues such as "mad cow" disease and genetic engineering.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Journal of Southern History, published by Thomson Gale on February 1, 2007. The length of the article is 637 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Toxic Drift: Pesticides and Health in the Post-World War II South.(Book review)
Author: Sarah T. Phillips
Publication:
Journal of Southern History (Magazine/Journal)
Date: February 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 73
Issue: 1
Page: 224(3)
Article Type: Book review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Books:
- Map Use & Analysis
- Mathematics for Finance: An Introduction to Financial Engineering (Springer Undergraduate Mathematics Series)
- McDonaldization: The Reader
- On the Move
- Participation and Democratic Theory (Structural Analysis in the Social Sciences)
- Paul Revere's Ride
- Policing and Special Units (Prentice Hall Policing and ... Series.)
- Political Ideologies and the Democratic Ideal (6th Edition)
- Politics of Congressional Elections (Longman Classics Series), The (6th Edition) (Longman Classics Series)
- Population: An Introduction to Concepts and Issues
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Power of Appreciative Inquiry: A Practical Guide to Positive Change
- Pool & Spa Planner
- Notes from a Small Island
- Growing Up in a Korean Kitchen: A Cookbook
- No Limit Hold 'em: Theory and Practice
- The 36-Hour Day: A Family Guide to Caring for Persons with Alzheimer Disease, Related Dementing Illn
- Molecular Imaging in Neuroscience: A Practical Approach
- Network Flows: Theory, Algorithms, and Applications
- Everybody's Guide to Bad Debt Collection
- A Change of Heart: A Harmony Novel
Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison
That Noble Dream: The 'Objectivity Question' and the American Historical Profession (Ideas in Context)
Gender and the Politics of History
Peasants into Frenchmen: The Modernization of Rural France, 1870-1914
Cheese and the Worms
