John Stuart Mill: Victorian Firebrand - Softcover

Richard Reeves

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1843546442 ISBN 13: 9781843546443

Publisher: Atlantic Books, 2008

Synopsis

The definitive life of John Stuart Mill, one of the heroic giants of Victorian England Richard Reeves' sparkling new biography can be read as an attempt to do justice to this eminent thinker, and it succeeds triumphantly. He reveals Mill as a man of action—a philosopher and radical MP who profoundly shaped Victorian society and whose thinking continues to illuminate our own. The product of an extraordinary and unique education, Mill would become in time the most significant English thinker of the nineteenth century, the author of the landmark essay On Liberty, and one of the most passionate reformers and advocates of his revolutionary, opinionated age. As a journalist he fired off weekly articles demanding Irish land reform as the people of that nation starved, as an MP he introduced the first vote on women's suffrage, fought to preserve free-speech, and opposed slavery—and, in his private life, for two decades pursued a love affair with another man's wife. To understand Mill and his contribution to his time and ours, Richard Reeves explores his life and work in tandem. The result is both a riveting and authoritative biography of a man raised by his father to promote happiness, whose life was spent in the pursuit of truth and liberty for all.

About this title

About the Author:

Richard Reeves is a leading social and political commentator, writing regularly for the Guardian, New Statesman, Observer, and Prospect. He is a former Columnist of the Year and Young Financial Journalist of the Year and has held research fellowships at the Institute for Public Policy Research and the University of London.

Review:

Meticulously explored... This is a masterpiece. * Catholic Herald * Richard Reeves has assembled an impressive array of material and marshalled it with great style... the pace never slackens, the writing is slick and lucid. -- Phil Collins * Daily Telegraph * Gripping and authoritative... Liberty, individualism and imagination were the essence of Mill's thought, and now that Mill's liberalism seems to have finally run its course, Reeves spells out its implications with exemplary lucidity, thoroughness and brio. -- Hilary Spurling * Observer * Richard Reeves' sparkling new biography succeeds triumphantly. Practically every aspect of Mill's life and thought is freshly presented. -- John Gray * Independent *

About this edition

• Publisher: Atlantic Books
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1843546442
• ISBN 13: 9781843546443
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 624