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The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (Penguin Modern Classics) (Paperback)

by Robert Tressell (Author), Tristram Hunt (Introduction) "The house was named 'The Cave' ..." (more)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 784 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Classics; New Ed edition (5 Aug 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0141187697
  • ISBN-13: 978-0141187693
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13 x 3.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 11,942 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #2 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > T > Tressell, Robert

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Product Description

Product Description

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists tells the story of a group of working men who are joined one day by Owen, a journeyman-prophet with a vision of a just society. Owen's spirited attacks on the greed and dishonesty of the capitalist system rouse his fellow men from their political quietism. A masterpiece of wit and political passion and one of the most authentic novels of English working class life ever written.


About the Author

Robert Tressell is the pseudonym of Robert Noonan, an Irish housepainter who came to England from South Africa in 1900. He settled in Hastings, where he worked as a signwriter for various building firms. Tressell never lived to see his book in print; he died of tuberculosis in 1911, aged forty.
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The house was named 'The Cave'. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

59 Reviews
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107 of 112 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A description of a journey through hell!, 19 April 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (Flamingo Modern Classics) (Paperback)
I first read the "Ragged Trousered Philanthropists" around 1947. It aroused such an interest in me that the story has remained fresh in my memory all of my life. I am now nearly 73 years old. It has been described as the first novel written by a working class person. The description of working class life in such a rich country is a permanent blot on the history of Great Britain. However Tressell writes with such humour that one minute you want to cry and the next explode with laughter. As a result of reading Tressell's book I became a Socialist. Nothing in my life has caused me to change my mind. The characters that Tressell described at the beginning of the twentieth century live on today. Read this book and I guarantee that your thinking will be radically affected. It was the only book that he ever wrote. Tragically, he never lived to see it published. Some people say that it won the election for the Labour Party immediately after the war.
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48 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Should be prescribed reading for all constrruction workers., 17 April 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (Flamingo Modern Classics) (Paperback)
Although this book was written nearly 100 years ago, so much is still pertinent today. I have worked in the construction industry for 40 of those years and have met and worked with many of Tressel's characters. I have bought and given this book to several workmates in the hope that some of Tressel's humanity could be imparted and some of his dignity could be passed on. Construction is still a much under-valued occupation and its employees are if anything far more exploited now than at the turn of the last century. I am amazed so few builders have even heard of this book. I doubt one in a thousand or even one in ten thousand of those I've worked with have read it, or even know of its existence. Perhaps in another 100 years they might and perhaps they will not be so philanthropic. I wonder !
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48 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Painful reading...., 15 Mar 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (Flamingo Modern Classics) (Paperback)
This book hadhuge effect on me when I first read it and when I picked it up twelve years on the spell was unbroken. It is idiosycratic and parochial. Reading from the vantage point of the early twenty first century, ten years after the downfall and discrediation of the communist bloc in Europe, the politics may appear confused and dated. Yet it remains a powerful and angry indictment of the capitalist system. It exposes the shortfalls of our society's economic organisation in a clear and unambiguous manner. The story follows the misfortunes of a group of painters and decorators in the south of Edwardian England. They are poor, they are unhappy, they are exploited and they cling tightly to thier right to remain in this state. Alternatives to their predicament are scorned and the perpetrators of radical ideas are met with scorn and violence. Owen, the socialist among the group, never eschews an opportunity to press home the absurdity of his fellow workers views and rarley misses a chance to convert them to his cause. His failure to do this is a central theme of this book. It is a significant element that he views his colleagues with almost the same contempt as their capitalist masters: he labels them philanthropists, who give their labour and ultimately their lives so that their "betters" are albel to live in comfort at their expense. It is a painful analysis for those on the left of the modern political spectrum.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Continuing struggle
This illustrates man stuggle with himself and the capitalist society in which he is forced to fight other men for the daily bread. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Dominic P. Rigg

5.0 out of 5 stars Its the rich wot gets the pleasure.........
An excellent book which lays bare class distinction and worker exploitation. Set in a period of history almost 100 years ago, it could have been written today with very few... Read more
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3.0 out of 5 stars Brutal expose of modern labour relations
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5.0 out of 5 stars The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
ESSENTIAL reading, especially for post-Thatcher babies too indoctrinated to understand the System they're serving. The Oxford edition feels and smells nice.
Published 2 months ago by M. R. Laing

5.0 out of 5 stars one of the best books I have ever read
undoughtable one of the best books I have ever read, why as a classic like this never been made into a film, while reading it I laughed, I cried, I was sad then happy.
Published 3 months ago by D. Frost

5.0 out of 5 stars To be well-read you must have read this classic.
Anyone who wishes to understand the basis for humanist politics MUST read this book. Create a more caring world - give this book to everyone you know.
Published 4 months ago by L. McAllister

5.0 out of 5 stars Ragged Trousered and still relevant!
Whatever your political leanings, this book describes how we've got to where we are today! Although it is a hefty tome it is worth staying with it and experiencing the hell that... Read more
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4.0 out of 5 stars A book with a difference
I bought this after hearing Ricky Tomlinson saying on TV that it was the book that changed his life, though I'm not sure in what way. Read more
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5.0 out of 5 stars The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
As relevant today as when it was published in 1914 given the crisis of capitalism.Shoud be compulsory reading for New Labour lot to remind them
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5.0 out of 5 stars As apt now as it ever was
Written in the early 1900's it's easy to spot the differences in the life of the ordinary working people in that time compared to now. Read more
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