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128th out of 943 books
—
758 voters
The Making of the English Working Class
This account of artisan & working-class society in its formative years, 1780-1832, adds an important dimension to our understanding of the 19th century. E.P. Thompson shows how the working class took part in its own making & recreates the whole life experience of people who suffered loss of status & freedom, who underwent degradation & who yet created a cul...more
Paperback, 864 pages
Published
February 12th 1966
by Vintage/Alfred A. Knopt/Random House (NY)
(first published 1963)
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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 W...more
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 W...more
Somehow I suspect that more ink has been spilled on the insignificant Battle of Waterloo - insignificant because if not defeated ten miles south of Brussels on the 18th of July Napoleon would have been beaten somewhere else at a later date - than on Primitive Methodism yet to my thinking it is Primitive Methodism and other similar religious movements has had more of an impact on the outlooks, worldviews and cultures of millions of English lives (all the more so considering the knock on impacts o...more
Excerpt from my essay:
Evidence is perhaps the greatest problem in historical methodology. Whether a historical event is recent or remote, the historian is forced to proclaim a definitive analysis from incomplete information. While some factual conclusions can be made with relative certainty based upon hard data, other aspects of society are less easily measured, such as happiness or spiritual health. Should a historian be given the right to generalize about intangible sentiments that cannot be q...more
Evidence is perhaps the greatest problem in historical methodology. Whether a historical event is recent or remote, the historian is forced to proclaim a definitive analysis from incomplete information. While some factual conclusions can be made with relative certainty based upon hard data, other aspects of society are less easily measured, such as happiness or spiritual health. Should a historian be given the right to generalize about intangible sentiments that cannot be q...more
What do you say about a book like this? It is kind of brilliant. It is still vital for historians to have some understanding of this book. It could have used an editor (I sort of stole that criticism from Eric Hobsbawm). It has some sections that are maybe not quite as brilliant as other sections but still are worthwhile. It succeeds, I think, in doing what Thompson set out to do: rescue the working class of Britain from "the enormous condescension of posterity." It improves on the basic Marxist...more
A seminal book that I first read at uni and I have come back to three times since. It is a book with an agenda whose author makes no pretense at hiding his sympathies and for which I remain an admirer. It looks at the cultural basis for the evolution of the workers into a class in the factory environment of Victorian Britain. In so doing he describes the class response of the wealthy and privileged to the aspirations of the poor and their traditional reaction of repression.
It is still a pleasure...more
It is still a pleasure...more
Nutshell: "The making of the working class is a fact of political and cultural, as much as of economic, history. It was not the spontaneous generation of the factory-system. Nor should we think of an external force -- the 'industrial revolution' -- working upon some nondescript undifferentiated raw material of humanity, and turning it out at the other end as a 'fresh race of beings'. The changing productive relations and working conditions of the Industrial Revolution were imposed, not upon raw...more
I should start by pointing out how little I know of the events in England that Thompson describes and their immediate consequences. Born in another country, my awareness of English history at this time was pretty superficial when I started writing-- Corn Laws, enclosures, Luddites, the rise of the industrial North... not much else. I've never read a line of William Cobbett.
But this is an at least intriguing history of the era, and, like Thompson, I'm bound to be pretty sympathetic to the struggl...more
But this is an at least intriguing history of the era, and, like Thompson, I'm bound to be pretty sympathetic to the struggl...more
Whatever flaws this book may have - the absence of women is a major one, yes - it remains incredibly exciting. The narrative is textured and compelling, and Thompson opens it up to so many voices that it really does convey a sense of the presence of the English working class at the site of its own production.
Every national history (and we can debate the dangers of a national history as an aside) deserves this additional treatment. Hagen Koo offers an attempt in the Korean case, and Ching Kwan Le...more
Every national history (and we can debate the dangers of a national history as an aside) deserves this additional treatment. Hagen Koo offers an attempt in the Korean case, and Ching Kwan Le...more
One of the great classics of radical history, and certainly a classic of social history of any persuasion. Thompson was a dissident Marxist, but his radicalism derived in many ways from that very English tradition of the Dissenting churches and the pre-Marxist labour movement. "Making of the English Working Class" looks at how disparate groups of lower-class Englishmen---- not just workers in the new steam-driven industries, but artisans and small farmers and skilled craftsmen and small shopkeep...more
I first read this at least eight -- maybe closer to ten -- years ago. Re-reading it just now is like finding a long-lost and beloved friend.
It is important not to allow the exertions of social historians since Thompson to color one's view of this book. Because it is the greatest work of historical scholarship and writing since Gibbon -- and maybe since Thucydides -- its influence has been enormous, and it has spawned imitation scholarship in every academic history department. Many of these subs...more
It is important not to allow the exertions of social historians since Thompson to color one's view of this book. Because it is the greatest work of historical scholarship and writing since Gibbon -- and maybe since Thucydides -- its influence has been enormous, and it has spawned imitation scholarship in every academic history department. Many of these subs...more
This account of artisan & working-class society in its formative years, 1780-1832, adds an important dimension to our understanding of the 19th century. E.P. Thompson shows how the working class took part in its own making & recreates the whole life experience of people who suffered loss of status & freedom, who underwent degradation & who yet created a culture & political consciousness of great vitality.
"Thompson's book has been called controversial, but perhaps only because...more
"Thompson's book has been called controversial, but perhaps only because...more
Thompson shares the impressive legacy of struggle and the agency with which that class strived for a better life. He proposes class as a "historical phenomenon" understood "as a social and cultural formation." This is in stark contrast to Marxism, where class is defined by one’s relationship to the means of production. It reminded me Zinn's People History, though Thompson does not touch on women, the Irish or other factors that would paint a broader picture of the working class.
The seminal book of the Century. Read this book at University and though it's not 'easy reading' as such, I found the subject matter very interesting and thought provoking. According to Wikipedia this '...is an influential and pivotal work of English social history, written by E. P. Thompson, a notable 'New Left' historian; it was published in 1963 (revised 1968) by Victor Gollancz Ltd, and later republished at Pelican, becoming an early Open University Set Book. It concentrates on English artis...more
One of the truly great pieces of British history in which Thompson, in his own words, set out ""to rescue the poor stockinger, the Luddite cropper, the 'obsolete' handloom weaver, the 'utopian' artisan, and even the deluded follower of Joanna Southgate, from the enormous condescension of posterity' and does so brilliantly. An enormous powerful book that helped reshape British social history, refocused English labour history, and shifted Marxist British history in fundamental ways. And on top of...more
This book is considered a classic. must read for Marxist historians and labor studies. I've seen it cited more times than I can count, which is why I read it. That being said, I would not recommend it to anyone without a. an extensive prior knowledge of 18th-19th century British history, b. a need for a model or guide on how to write a working class history, and/or c. internet access to look up the dozens of terms and names the author throws about like they are common knowledge (which they may b...more
I could be a bit devilish here and say a more apt title for this book would be "The Making of the English Working Men", but I don't suppose I'd be the first to express that sentiment, and besides, it overlooks the fact that most of what it is in this tome of a work is needed to be there.
Essential reading for a social history undergraduate, it is as long as any decent account of long term socio-historical phenomena ought to be and has a lively and passionate narrative. In particular his cynicism...more
Essential reading for a social history undergraduate, it is as long as any decent account of long term socio-historical phenomena ought to be and has a lively and passionate narrative. In particular his cynicism...more
Thompson's version of Marxist history is humanistic. However, this is the reason orthodox Marxist's critcize him. Thompson isn't a hard economic determinist, indeed his concern is more culturally oriented. This is just a long monograph and, in my opinion, represents the last major wave of Marxist historians. This kind of history is bland, but it is influential, nevertheless. If you enjoy ivory tower Marxism, and the likes of Christopher Hill, you'll love Thompson's work.
Si detenemos la historia en un punto determinado, entonces no hay clases sino simplemente una multitud de individuos con una multitud de experiencias. Pero si observamos a esos hombres a lo largo de un periodo suficiente de cambio social, observaremos pautas en sus relaciones, sus ideas y sus instituciones. La clase la definen los hombres mientras viven su propia historia y, al fin y al cabo, esta es su única definición.
For anyone who ever wanted to know more about the other 99% of the British population - those who actually worked for a living - this is THE BOOK. While the overall size of the book may turn people away, at several hundred pages long, it is packed with information that will keep you glued to the pages and not wanting to put it down - and, it is NON-FICTION. I absolutely loved this book, it now has a place in my bookcase because it is just that good.
Even today this remains a fantastic history of the early english labour movements and the working class in general. Despite being a Marxist, this was refreshingly not bogged down with Marxist theory and bias as I find is often the case with the much overrated Eric Hobsbawm.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an in-depth knowledge of such an interesting aspect of British history.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an in-depth knowledge of such an interesting aspect of British history.
OK, it's been on my currently-reading shelf for a long time. When I seemed to stall out at around p. 632, I know many of you were worried I would never finish it. But never fear, I braved the final 200 pages and made it all the way to the end.
A book so long contains many different things. Some passages were indeed difficult to get through. But many were absolutely fascinating.
The final chapter, about the Reform Bill of 1832, seemed particularly poignant in the light of the current debacle of hea...more
A book so long contains many different things. Some passages were indeed difficult to get through. But many were absolutely fascinating.
The final chapter, about the Reform Bill of 1832, seemed particularly poignant in the light of the current debacle of hea...more
I read this about 30 years ago and it led me to major in history. I read it again in grad school while studying for prelims and it helped me think about how to write materialist cultural history. I'm reading it again now because it's the 50th anniversary and find myself writing down many quotations whole as I take notes. It contains some of the most provocative and thoughtful observations on historical change, class consciousness, and human experience that I've encountered in any book in any fi...more
I've run out of renewals so this one goes to limbo. It's fascinating, though, even if I don't understand many of the references and much of the context. It's also very dense -- not because it's densely written, but because it's packed so full of facts. It's truly a monumental effort and even with having only managed 163 pages, I can somewhat see where things are going and why all the little occurrences (and some not-so-little ones) are important to document in detail because it was all those fit...more
This book was interesting but only for an audience that would appreciate 800+ pages on the social and cultural influences that helped the English working class coalesce. It is definitely not a light read, and I did some skimming when things got dry.
"In the failure of the two traditions [Romanticism and Radicalism] to come to a point of junction, something was lost. How much we cannot be sure, for we are among the losers."
This is a very important book for many reasons. Along side this book read Chants Democratic by Sean Wilentz.
Incredible and incredibly long. At the very least, every history major should read the opening.
This was compulsory reading in my university years. Meticulous study, but a little tidy.
Classic Marxist account of working people in English history.
working class, famous since it's published at 1963
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Edward Palmer Thompson was a British historian, writer, socialist and peace campaigner. He is probably best known today for his historical work on the British radical movements in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, in particular The Making of the English Working Class (1963). He also published influential biographies of William Morris (1955) and (posthumously) William Blake (1993) and was a p...more
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Wrong!
Nice review.
May 08, 2011 03:50am