The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes - a summary review

Book excerpt: Jonathan Rose's book has become a classic. It mainly covers the C19th and early C20th tending to avoid or mute the inane politics and tends to prop up the presumed goodness of the canon of English Literature. In spite of the liberal bias it's easy to get lots of interesting stuff out of the book and my reading attempts to steer the information back towards working class liberation. Rose's work is based on the prior compilation of around 2000 memoirs and autobiographies by working class people. This collection allows the reading habits of working class people in this period to be visible for the first time and some startling things become evident about the C19th. Rose is no EP Thompson but the richness of his data source is rewarding.