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Title: The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell ISBN: 0-586-09036-3 Publisher: Acacia Press, Inc. Pub. Date: 1991 Format: Paperback List Price(USD): $22.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.33 (9 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Good introduction to socialism
Comment: This book is essentially classic socialist thought bundled into a story, all be it a story based closely on the life of the author. Half biography, half political philosophy course in socialism the Ragged trousered Philanthropists somehow works as a novel. The plot is interesting but tedious at times, the dialog is spot on and the atmosphere is brilliant. This is no doubt due to the personal experience of the author.
It is very preachy, a no holds barred attack against capitalism and a shockingly biased view of socialism. But it's a brilliant way to find out about Socialsim, at times inspiring and delving deep into minds of those who wish for change.
The book is very good, worth four stars maybe. I gave it three because of the text book feel it generates at times.
Rating: 5
Summary: Be enlightened
Comment: I think that this book is excellent. It illustrates the workers, who have been made ignorant by a capitalist system premised on the values of feaudalism, in which wokers - or serfs - know their place, which is at the bottom of the hierachy. This contributes towards the workers intrasigence in their refusal to see the causes of their poverty, which subsequently causes them to be ingnorant. Those who became enlightened to the true causes of their poverty could be forgiven in their reluctance to fully embrace socialism for they were in a minority, and prone to assault as illustrated in the book.
This attitude prevails today, as it did in the early part of the 20th century, in that the majority of the British working class still insist that poverty, and inequality are caused by the drunken, the lazy unemployed, lone parents asylem seekers, and cheap foreign imports. As this attitude is encouraged by media propaganda, in a similar manner as those who benefit from the system in Tressell's book, then the working classes of post modern Britain remain just as intrasegent and ignorant as ever, the majority seeing edication as irrelevant to to them.
One aspect of the book that I am grateful to Tressel for is the way he highlighted the conditions of women in working class Britain in the early 20th century. By doing this Tressell gives credibility to the feminist movement, and its achievements so far.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
Comment: A lady I worked with, a long time ago, recommended this book to me. It is genuinely Socialistic in outlook (although Mr. Tressell was not afraid to critise what he saw as 'wrongs' in Socialism itself. This makes great sense, as no one political system is perfect as we all know.
The book is based on a Company of builders in the early 20th Century 'Botich & Co.' if I remember rightly. You read the conditions of the workers which are pretty harrowing (as working class environment was, at the time). You meet the workers' families as well. You see the struggles they have to survive on the times when bad weather put the builders 'off work'
The Foreman liased between the Management and the workers. I cannot remember his name now, as it is a long time since I have read the book.He is an important character.
Some of the workers' try to justify their injustices as being 'what they, as working class people must expect' There was One man who joined the company, who tried to educate his fellow workers as to how wrong they were, about the inequalities of Capitalism. He was not popular for taking this stance.
It sounds a heavy book, but it is extremely readeable. I recommend it to anyone interested in how people lived and worked. It does NOT force you into taking a political stance. The book is there to be enjoyed...
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Title: Second-Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta ISBN: 0807610666 Publisher: George Braziller Pub. Date: January, 2002 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: The Public Image (A Revived Modern Classic) by Muriel Spark ISBN: 0811212467 Publisher: New Directions Publishing Pub. Date: April, 1993 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh ISBN: 8175300434 Publisher: South Asia Books Pub. Date: 04 February, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins ISBN: 0192860925 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: September, 1990 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title:Winged Migration ASIN: B0000CGNEH Publisher: Columbia Tristar Hom Pub. Date: 18 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.95 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $18.87 |
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