The Ruskin Society Book of The Year. Who was John Ruskin? What did he achieve - and how? Where is he today? One possible answer: almost everywhere. John Ruskin was the Victorian age's best-known and most controversial intellectual. He was an art critic, a social activist, an early environmentalist; he was also a painter, writer, and a determined tastemaker in the fields of architecture and design. His ideas, which poured from his pen in the second half of the 19th century, sowed the seeds of the modern welfare state, universal state education and healthcare free at the point of delivery. His acute appreciation of natural beauty underpinned the National Trust, while his sensitivity to environmental change, decades before it was considered other than a local phenomenon, fuelled the modern green movement. His violent critique of free market economics, Unto This Last, has a claim to be the most influential political pamphlet ever written. Ruskin laid into the smug champions of Victorian capitalism, prefigured the current debate about inequality, executive pay, ethical business and automation. Gandhi is just one of the many whose lives were changed radically by reading Ruskin, and who went on to change the world. This book, timed to coincide with the 200th anniversary of John Ruskin's birth in 2019, will retrace Ruskin's steps, telling his life story and visiting the places and talking to the people who - perhaps unknowingly - were influenced by Ruskin himself or by his profoundly important ideas. What, if anything, do they know about him? How is what they do or think linked to the vivid, difficult but often prophetic pronouncements he made about the way our modern world should look, live, work and think? As important, where - and why - have his ideas been swept away or displaced, sometimes by buildings, developments and practices that Ruskin himself would have abhorred? Part travelogue, part quest, part unconventional biography, this book will attempt to map Ruskinland: a place where, two centuries after John Ruskin's birth, more of us live than we know.
Read full publisher description Product information:
- Publisher: Pallas Athene
- Year: 2019
- Format: Hardback
- Pages: 306pp
- Illustrated: Yes
- Dimensions: 220x153mm
- ISBN: 9781843681755
- Condition: New
- Weight: 0.6kg
Product code:
542409
Product information
Full publisher description
Reasons to shop at Postscript
Independent bookseller
Established in 1987, we’ve been sharing reading recommendations for decades.
Books you won’t find elsewhere
Discover new authors among our frequently changing bookshelves, along with almost-forgotten gems and a wealth of unusual titles you won’t find elsewhere.
Eco-friendly packaging
Orders are carefully packed in recyclable cardboard boxes, eco-friendly bubble wrap and solvent-free labels, paper and tape.
Condition and price
All our books are new, unused and unread, and they’re all up to 75% off RRP.
FREE monthly catalogue
Featuring over 400 handpicked titles, our unique catalogue is carefully curated and includes new and unusual titles, special features and exclusive collections.
Email newsletters
Our tailored newsletters are written by our booksellers, and we always highlight the books that we have talked about most in the Postscript office.
Footnotes blog
Some books spark ideas and conversations that our catalogue can’t contain – our Footnotes blog offers a deeper dive into a wealth of topics to inspire further reading.
Aftercare
We are all serious book people and we understand the value of reading. This is why we package our books so carefully and employ a helpful in-house customer services team to promptly resolve any queries you may have.
Delivery information - FREE UK delivery on orders over £25
UK
Free UK standard delivery on all online orders over £25
Flat rate for all standard delivery orders: £3.00 (3-5 working days)
Flat rate for Next Day orders (orders must be placed before 1pm, Monday–Friday): £4.50
Flat rate for all Royal Mail Tracked48 orders: £5.50 (2-4 working days)
Standard delivery: 3-5 working days (Highlands and Islands 5-7 working days)
Next day delivery: Available all UK excluding Highlands and Islands
Collect your order from a local shop – prices and delivery times as above
Overseas
All orders: delivery costs for orders outside the UK are based on country of destination and product weight.
You can view your overseas delivery cost using the Summary section within the Basket.
For more information on delivery/overseas orders please refer to our Delivery Information.
