Herbert Read Reassessed

Book excerpt: Herbert Read (1893–1968) acquired in his lifetime a considerable international reputation in all the major areas of his diverse activities: as poet, as educationalist, as anarchist, as philosopher (of aesthetics), as art critic, as historian of, and above all, as propagandist for modern art and design. The papers assembled in Herbert Read Reassessed offer a comprehensive and authoritative coverage of Read’s life work that is designed to stimulate debate. "An impressive volume... it manages to present a unified but not totalizing portrait of one of England’s most distinguished twentieth-century critics."—English Historical Review