On Michelet's The People, EW: We know them well in English, these nineteenth century gospels: Ruskin's Beauty, Meredith's Nature, Matthew Arnold's Culture--large and abstract capitalized words, appearing in cloudy apocalypses, as remedies for practical evils.

1084 To the Finland Station: A Study in the Writing and Acting of History, by Edmund Wilson (read 6 Oct 1970) This is an account of Communism up to Apr 16, 1917, when Lenin arrived at Petrograd. I don't quite know what to make of it. It is more favorable to Marxism than I am, but it is well-written and probably quite objective. It discusses a lot I am not familiar with, especially in the earlier part of the book. For instance, some time is spent on Jules Michelet, who was born in 1798 and wrote a history of France. I'd like to read it--I wonder if there is a good English translation. The account of Marx seems familiar because I had an excellent teacher in college : Father William Green. The accounts of Lasalle (born Apr 11, 1825, in Breslau, died in a duel) and Bakunin (born 18 May 1814 in Russia, died 1 July 1876) were well-written and interesting. I have long wanted to read this book and it has been time well-spent. ( )

Terrific stuff: everything intellectual history should be. ( )

Certainly not a light, pleasant reader. I believe I read this book whenever I got the chance during school over a period of two to three weeks. This speed suited me the best as any faster I would've burned out or skipped sections of the book.

What does this book cover? Mostly the biographies of certain important figures in socialist history ranging from Saint-Simon, to Owen and Fourier, to Lenin.

Who would I recommend this book to? Probably only to those interested in the history of socialist economics. I did not catch a particular bias, so whether you are for, against, or neutral to this system of economics, you should not be turned off in that regard.

Keep in mind however that this book was published in 1953, so this would be written in ignorance to recent events. ( )

Generally, I can't stand Edmund Wilson when he's wearing his 'critics hat', but I can tolerate him enough for the sake of his scholarship, such as it is here. Worth your time to read. ( )