What do you think?
Rate this book
Unto This Last and Other Writings
An outcry against injustice and inhumanity, . . . a closely argued assault on the science of political economy.
362 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1860
64 people are currently reading
2023 people want to read
About the author
John Ruskin
3,739 books474 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
John Ruskin was an English writer, philosopher, art historian, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and political economy.
Ruskin was heavily engaged by the work of Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc which he taught to all his pupils including William Morris, notably Viollet-le-Duc's Dictionary, which he considered as "the only book of any value on architecture". Ruskin's writing styles and literary forms were equally varied. He wrote essays and treatises, poetry and lectures, travel guides and manuals, letters and even a fairy tale. He also made detailed sketches and paintings of rocks, plants, birds, landscapes, architectural structures and ornamentation. The elaborate style that characterised his earliest writing on art gave way in time to plainer language designed to communicate his ideas more effectively. In all of his writing, he emphasised the connections between nature, art and society.
Ruskin was hugely influential in the latter half of the 19th century and up to the First World War. After a period of relative decline, his reputation has steadily improved since the 1960s with the publication of numerous academic studies of his work. Today, his ideas and concerns are widely recognised as having anticipated interest in environmentalism, sustainability and craft.
Ruskin first came to widespread attention with the first volume of Modern Painters (1843), an extended essay in defence of the work of J.M.W. Turner in which he argued that the principal role of the artist is "truth to nature". From the 1850s, he championed the Pre-Raphaelites, who were influenced by his ideas. His work increasingly focused on social and political issues. Unto This Last (1860, 1862) marked the shift in emphasis. In 1869, Ruskin became the first Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Oxford, where he established the Ruskin School of Drawing. In 1871, he began his monthly "letters to the workmen and labourers of Great Britain", published under the title Fors Clavigera (1871–1884). In the course of this complex and deeply personal work, he developed the principles underlying his ideal society. As a result, he founded the Guild of St George, an organisation that endures today.
John Ruskin was an English writer, philosopher, art historian, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and political economy.
Ruskin was heavily engaged by the work of Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc which he taught to all his pupils including William Morris, notably Viollet-le-Duc's Dictionary, which he considered as "the only book of any value on architecture". Ruskin's writing styles and literary forms were equally varied. He wrote essays and treatises, poetry and lectures, travel guides and manuals, letters and even a fairy tale. He also made detailed sketches and paintings of rocks, plants, birds, landscapes, architectural structures and ornamentation. The elaborate style that characterised his earliest writing on art gave way in time to plainer language designed to communicate his ideas more effectively. In all of his writing, he emphasised the connections between nature, art and society.
Ruskin was hugely influential in the latter half of the 19th century and up to the First World War. After a period of relative decline, his reputation has steadily improved since the 1960s with the publication of numerous academic studies of his work. Today, his ideas and concerns are widely recognised as having anticipated interest in environmentalism, sustainability and craft.
Ruskin first came to widespread attention with the first volume of Modern Painters (1843), an extended essay in defence of the work of J.M.W. Turner in which he argued that the principal role of the artist is "truth to nature". From the 1850s, he championed the Pre-Raphaelites, who were influenced by his ideas. His work increasingly focused on social and political issues. Unto This Last (1860, 1862) marked the shift in emphasis. In 1869, Ruskin became the first Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Oxford, where he established the Ruskin School of Drawing. In 1871, he began his monthly "letters to the workmen and labourers of Great Britain", published under the title Fors Clavigera (1871–1884). In the course of this complex and deeply personal work, he developed the principles underlying his ideal society. As a result, he founded the Guild of St George, an organisation that endures today.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
January 27, 2016
Introduction
Chronology
Further Reading
Commentary
--The King of the Golden River, or The Black Brothers: A Legend of Stiria (1841)
from The Stones of Venice, Volume II: The Sea-Stories (1853)
Commentary
--The Nature of Gothic
from The Two Paths: Lectures on Art and its application to Decoration and Manufacture (1859)
Commentary
--The Work of Iron, in Nature, Art, and Policy
from Modern Painters, Volume V Part IX: Of Invention Spiritual (1860)
Commentary
--The Two Boyhoods
Unto This Last
--Preface
--Essay I: The Roots of Honour
--Essay II: The Veins of Wealth
--Essay III: Qui Judicatis Terram
--Essay IV: Ad Valorem
from The Crown of Wild Olive: Four Lectures on Industry and War (1866)
Commentary
--Traffic
from Sesame and Lilies: Two Lectures (1865)
Commentary
--Of Kings' Treasuries
from Fors Clavigera: Letters to the Workmen and Labourers of Great Britain (1871-1884)
Commentary
--Letter 7: Charitas
--Letter 10: The Baron's Gate
Notes
Chronology
Further Reading
Commentary
--The King of the Golden River, or The Black Brothers: A Legend of Stiria (1841)
from The Stones of Venice, Volume II: The Sea-Stories (1853)
Commentary
--The Nature of Gothic
from The Two Paths: Lectures on Art and its application to Decoration and Manufacture (1859)
Commentary
--The Work of Iron, in Nature, Art, and Policy
from Modern Painters, Volume V Part IX: Of Invention Spiritual (1860)
Commentary
--The Two Boyhoods
Unto This Last
--Preface
--Essay I: The Roots of Honour
--Essay II: The Veins of Wealth
--Essay III: Qui Judicatis Terram
--Essay IV: Ad Valorem
from The Crown of Wild Olive: Four Lectures on Industry and War (1866)
Commentary
--Traffic
from Sesame and Lilies: Two Lectures (1865)
Commentary
--Of Kings' Treasuries
from Fors Clavigera: Letters to the Workmen and Labourers of Great Britain (1871-1884)
Commentary
--Letter 7: Charitas
--Letter 10: The Baron's Gate
Notes
August 4, 2023
How did it come about that in the twenty-first century West, and in the United States specifically, political “conservatism” has wedded itself to a credulous, Panglossian reverence for the socially catastrophic and anticommunitarian consolidations of rentier monopoly capitalism, while any critique of the latter, even in the modest interest of preserving some modicum of civilized life from the precarity of a privatized and financially-liquified world, is seen only as the purview of “radicals” bent on undermining our traditional ways of being?
I don’t have a complete answer to that question; but reading one of the great Victorian conservative thinkers, a man who wrote before industrial capitalism had become socially ubiquitous and widely accepted as an unalterable fact of life—at a time when the phrase “tory socialism” would not have sounded incoherent—has illuminated new (or, rather, old) ways of imagining the political and cultural landscape. A traditionalist with nostalgia for the gothic and medieval, John Ruskin (along with his protégé, William Morris) was also one of the foremost influences in the development of British socialism, outshining the continental figures like Marx and Proudhon who have become more familiar to us. His opposition to the dehumanizing disruptions of industrial mechanization was thoroughly conservative in nature and utterly alien to the pseudo-scientific, world-historical pretentions of Marxism.
His argument in Unto This Last, his most substantial piece of writing on economics, is as simple (some might say naïve) as it is profound: economic relations cannot be justified by the short-term, personal financial expediencies of money-owners or by some narrow utilitarian calculus of the greatest benefit for the greatest number, but must instead be governed by justice. We cannot know the ultimate practical result of each of our actions, but we can distinguish between just and unjust acts, and maintain a reasonable faith that just acts will produce the best outcomes at any given scale of analysis.
Ruskin believed that nineteenth-century political economy was built on an inadequate foundation; that it viewed mankind only as a profit-maximizing machine rather than as a collection of personal, affectionate beings in possession of immortal souls. By artificially removing our soulful affections from its attempts to rationalize and systematize human economic behavior, political economy dispenses with precisely that ingredient that makes the motivations of human beings so profoundly different from those of field mice. An economic order based on assumptions of human greed and self-aggrandizement will never provide for its citizens as well as one based on the centrality of affection and self-sacrifice to human wellbeing. As Ruskin puts it in the work’s most famous passage:
“THERE IS NO WEALTH BUT LIFE. Life, including all its powers of love, of joy, and of admiration. That country is the richest which nourishes the greatest number of noble and happy human beings; that man is richest who, having perfected the functions of his own life to the utmost, has also the widest helpful influence, both personal, and by means of his possessions, over the lives of others.”
I don’t have a complete answer to that question; but reading one of the great Victorian conservative thinkers, a man who wrote before industrial capitalism had become socially ubiquitous and widely accepted as an unalterable fact of life—at a time when the phrase “tory socialism” would not have sounded incoherent—has illuminated new (or, rather, old) ways of imagining the political and cultural landscape. A traditionalist with nostalgia for the gothic and medieval, John Ruskin (along with his protégé, William Morris) was also one of the foremost influences in the development of British socialism, outshining the continental figures like Marx and Proudhon who have become more familiar to us. His opposition to the dehumanizing disruptions of industrial mechanization was thoroughly conservative in nature and utterly alien to the pseudo-scientific, world-historical pretentions of Marxism.
His argument in Unto This Last, his most substantial piece of writing on economics, is as simple (some might say naïve) as it is profound: economic relations cannot be justified by the short-term, personal financial expediencies of money-owners or by some narrow utilitarian calculus of the greatest benefit for the greatest number, but must instead be governed by justice. We cannot know the ultimate practical result of each of our actions, but we can distinguish between just and unjust acts, and maintain a reasonable faith that just acts will produce the best outcomes at any given scale of analysis.
Ruskin believed that nineteenth-century political economy was built on an inadequate foundation; that it viewed mankind only as a profit-maximizing machine rather than as a collection of personal, affectionate beings in possession of immortal souls. By artificially removing our soulful affections from its attempts to rationalize and systematize human economic behavior, political economy dispenses with precisely that ingredient that makes the motivations of human beings so profoundly different from those of field mice. An economic order based on assumptions of human greed and self-aggrandizement will never provide for its citizens as well as one based on the centrality of affection and self-sacrifice to human wellbeing. As Ruskin puts it in the work’s most famous passage:
“THERE IS NO WEALTH BUT LIFE. Life, including all its powers of love, of joy, and of admiration. That country is the richest which nourishes the greatest number of noble and happy human beings; that man is richest who, having perfected the functions of his own life to the utmost, has also the widest helpful influence, both personal, and by means of his possessions, over the lives of others.”
April 1, 2020
Ruskin, John. Unto This Last and Other Writings.
This is a collection of John Ruskin's economic and social writings. Placed against the backdrop of the Industrial Revolution, it is attempt to think through issues of capitalism, socialism, and moral ontology. Like any economic writing, it needs to be taken into account for today's technology. The best way to approach this is to see it as a riff on Augustine's Civ. Dei. 19.
Architecture and Ontology
the quality of architectural adornment is affected by the conditions of labour in which it is produced (Introduction, 17).
A certain type of architecture will arise from the conditions in that society.
From Renaissance came neo-classicism. The ornament is subservient to the perfection of design.
Industrial Revolution: grotesque, mass-produced.
Economics
Specialization is arbitrary and unnatural. It isolates the subject from its environment. Three influences on Ruskin: Bible, Toryism, Romanticism. Interestingly, state intervention was a right-ish phenomenon (cf the abolition of slavery under Wilberforce, a Tory).
Unto this Last
Rejects and questions Mill: if society appears to benefit from materialism and selfishness, how is it that Mill is not recommending this? Mill’s economic man is a complete abstraction. Mill didn’t think he actually existed, but served as a good model. Ruskin said this is not how science should proceed. If he doesn’t exist, why bother using him as a model?
What do value and justice actually mean?
value: an object’s value is its power to support life. It is intrinsic.
Goal of essay: “to provide a logical definition of wealth” (Ruskin 161). His second goal is to show that the acquisition of wealth is possible only under certain moral conditions of society, and he will explain those conditions.
Essay 1: The Roots of Honour
Modern political economy (liberal capitalism) presumes a “negation of the soul” (169). God intended social dynamics to be regulated by justice, not expediency.
The problem of wages: Ruskin argues for regulating wages. He says this is already the case for most of the labour on earth. All labour ought to be paid “by an invariable standard” (173). He suggests that the good workmen will be paid and employed, whereas the bad workman will (necessarily?) be unemployed. He maintains one result will be a steady employment rate.
Ruskin is aware of the problem of intermittent labour (think of the construction worker on the rainy day). So he says such a worker should have higher wages, but also this would encourage the employer to seek stable levels of employment.
Says soldiers should be paid more because they risk dying (175). By contrast, a merchant is always presumed to act selfishly. Ruskin wants to say that a true merchant will occasionally allow for voluntary loss--in the sense that if the choice were to arise between duty and profit, or showing grace to renters vs. profit, the true merchant--the honest one--will always accept the loss (177).
Ruskin brings home his point with unusual force. He lists a series of professions whose job is to provide for the “common objects of love” (Augustine’s words, not his).
The Soldier’s profession is to defend it (i.e., common objects of love)
The Pastor’s is to teach it.
The physician’s is to keep it in health.
The Lawyer’s is to enforce justice in it.
The Merchant’s is to provide for it.
But in life we sometimes have to die for something:
The soldier will die rather than leave his post in battle.
The Physician, rather than leave his post in plague.
The Pastor, rather than teach falsehood.
The Lawyer, rather than countenance injustice.
The Merchant--what is his “due occasion” of death?
But Ruskin does not disparage the merchant. I know it is fashionable to blame all of the evils of the world on Protestantism, but the truth remains that the Protestant world was a merchant/burgher world--and it exploded in science, technology, and morals. This wouldn’t be possible without the merchant class.
And Ruskin knows this. And a merchant has a great opportunity for the commonweal. A merchant can function as a father figure to youths coming under his responsibility (178ff).
Essay 1: Roots of Honor
Question: what is justice?
The affection one man owes another (169). Ruskin includes this in his definition of justice. Many cannot be quantified as a laborer. He has a soul that is a stronger motive force.
The problem of wages. He begins by correctly noting that the price of labor is regulated by the demand for it. However, he asserts that the best labor “ought to be paid by an invariable standard” (173). Ruskin thinks this will prevent bad workmen from offering shoddy work at half price. I’m not so sure. On the other hand, this shows exactly what happened with cheap foreign labor.
Practical Applications
a capitalist will not necessarily want wages so low (which would maximize proximal profit) if it meant a sickly and depressed work force (169).
Essay II: Veins of Wealth
Political economy consists in the production, preservation, and distribution of useful or pleasurable things (181). Real wealth consists in substantial possessions and not in a claim upon labor, which Ruskin associates with the mercantile class.
Essay III: Qui Judicatis Terram
Definition of Justice, revisited: absolute exchange. All of this is fine but how do we move from this definition to something like “just wages?” Ruskin says that it consists in a sum of money “which will at any time procure for him at least as much labour as he has given” (196). Labor, then, matches wages.
As it is, this doesn’t tell me anything. From this I have no idea whether 10$ an hour is just or $20. Ruskin continues: “The current coin or document is practically an order on the nation for so much work of any kind” (196). That’s not unprecedented. It worked in Nazi Germany after 1933 (one of the few times in history socialism literally worked). It almost worked in Tito’s Yugoslavia.
On the next page Ruskin comes very close to the “subjective-value theory.” “There are few bargains in which the buyer can ascertain with anything like precision that the seller would have taken no less.” This is correct. Economics demands knowledge of various moving parts. Ruskin, however, does not draw the Austrian conclusion. He says because of this lack of knowledge neither side will try to outwit the other.
Conclusion of justice: diminish the wealth in one man’s hands through a chain of men. This doesn’t necessarily mean communism. It simply points out if there are limits to the amount of wealth in one man’s hands, it automatically limits his power over their lives (199). Just payment must be diffused through “a descending series of offices or grades of labour.”
Essay IV: Ad Valorum
Ruskin now tries to tie together his economic theory where it concerns value, prices, etc. Unlike economists of his time (Smith and Marx), Ruskin does not go for a full objective theory of value. There is a value to the object, to be sure, but Ruskin avoids Marx’s crude mistake. The value is in the use of the object (206). Midway through the essay Ruskin breaks free from these lines of thought altogether: “A truly valuable thing is that which leads to life with its whole strength” (209). We must desire things that lead to life.
Ruskin has subtly but brilliantly changed the definition of wealth. It is no longer what we “have” but what we can use (210). But this only works when it is in the hands of those capable of using. This leads to his famous saying, “Wealth is the possession of the valuable by the valiant” (211).
The book ends with some final essays which contain useful advice:
“All good architecture is the expression of national life and character” (233).
“The entire object of true education is to make people not merely do the right things, but enjoy the right things” (234). I never thought discipleship and architecture would be interwoven like this, but they are. As James K. A. Smith points out, the shopping mall is modeled after a cathedral and it has its own liturgies. When you are in a shopping mall, it is discipling you.
“True kingship consists in a stronger moral state, and a truer thoughtful state than that of others” (253).
Fors Clavigera
Ruskin’s letters are interesting. His mother made him memorize Deut. 32, Psalm 119, the Sermon on the Mount, most of Revelation, and 1 Cor. 15 (307). He learned his Toryism from Walter Scott.
This is a collection of John Ruskin's economic and social writings. Placed against the backdrop of the Industrial Revolution, it is attempt to think through issues of capitalism, socialism, and moral ontology. Like any economic writing, it needs to be taken into account for today's technology. The best way to approach this is to see it as a riff on Augustine's Civ. Dei. 19.
Architecture and Ontology
the quality of architectural adornment is affected by the conditions of labour in which it is produced (Introduction, 17).
A certain type of architecture will arise from the conditions in that society.
From Renaissance came neo-classicism. The ornament is subservient to the perfection of design.
Industrial Revolution: grotesque, mass-produced.
Economics
Specialization is arbitrary and unnatural. It isolates the subject from its environment. Three influences on Ruskin: Bible, Toryism, Romanticism. Interestingly, state intervention was a right-ish phenomenon (cf the abolition of slavery under Wilberforce, a Tory).
Unto this Last
Rejects and questions Mill: if society appears to benefit from materialism and selfishness, how is it that Mill is not recommending this? Mill’s economic man is a complete abstraction. Mill didn’t think he actually existed, but served as a good model. Ruskin said this is not how science should proceed. If he doesn’t exist, why bother using him as a model?
What do value and justice actually mean?
value: an object’s value is its power to support life. It is intrinsic.
Goal of essay: “to provide a logical definition of wealth” (Ruskin 161). His second goal is to show that the acquisition of wealth is possible only under certain moral conditions of society, and he will explain those conditions.
Essay 1: The Roots of Honour
Modern political economy (liberal capitalism) presumes a “negation of the soul” (169). God intended social dynamics to be regulated by justice, not expediency.
The problem of wages: Ruskin argues for regulating wages. He says this is already the case for most of the labour on earth. All labour ought to be paid “by an invariable standard” (173). He suggests that the good workmen will be paid and employed, whereas the bad workman will (necessarily?) be unemployed. He maintains one result will be a steady employment rate.
Ruskin is aware of the problem of intermittent labour (think of the construction worker on the rainy day). So he says such a worker should have higher wages, but also this would encourage the employer to seek stable levels of employment.
Says soldiers should be paid more because they risk dying (175). By contrast, a merchant is always presumed to act selfishly. Ruskin wants to say that a true merchant will occasionally allow for voluntary loss--in the sense that if the choice were to arise between duty and profit, or showing grace to renters vs. profit, the true merchant--the honest one--will always accept the loss (177).
Ruskin brings home his point with unusual force. He lists a series of professions whose job is to provide for the “common objects of love” (Augustine’s words, not his).
The Soldier’s profession is to defend it (i.e., common objects of love)
The Pastor’s is to teach it.
The physician’s is to keep it in health.
The Lawyer’s is to enforce justice in it.
The Merchant’s is to provide for it.
But in life we sometimes have to die for something:
The soldier will die rather than leave his post in battle.
The Physician, rather than leave his post in plague.
The Pastor, rather than teach falsehood.
The Lawyer, rather than countenance injustice.
The Merchant--what is his “due occasion” of death?
But Ruskin does not disparage the merchant. I know it is fashionable to blame all of the evils of the world on Protestantism, but the truth remains that the Protestant world was a merchant/burgher world--and it exploded in science, technology, and morals. This wouldn’t be possible without the merchant class.
And Ruskin knows this. And a merchant has a great opportunity for the commonweal. A merchant can function as a father figure to youths coming under his responsibility (178ff).
Essay 1: Roots of Honor
Question: what is justice?
The affection one man owes another (169). Ruskin includes this in his definition of justice. Many cannot be quantified as a laborer. He has a soul that is a stronger motive force.
The problem of wages. He begins by correctly noting that the price of labor is regulated by the demand for it. However, he asserts that the best labor “ought to be paid by an invariable standard” (173). Ruskin thinks this will prevent bad workmen from offering shoddy work at half price. I’m not so sure. On the other hand, this shows exactly what happened with cheap foreign labor.
Practical Applications
a capitalist will not necessarily want wages so low (which would maximize proximal profit) if it meant a sickly and depressed work force (169).
Essay II: Veins of Wealth
Political economy consists in the production, preservation, and distribution of useful or pleasurable things (181). Real wealth consists in substantial possessions and not in a claim upon labor, which Ruskin associates with the mercantile class.
Essay III: Qui Judicatis Terram
Definition of Justice, revisited: absolute exchange. All of this is fine but how do we move from this definition to something like “just wages?” Ruskin says that it consists in a sum of money “which will at any time procure for him at least as much labour as he has given” (196). Labor, then, matches wages.
As it is, this doesn’t tell me anything. From this I have no idea whether 10$ an hour is just or $20. Ruskin continues: “The current coin or document is practically an order on the nation for so much work of any kind” (196). That’s not unprecedented. It worked in Nazi Germany after 1933 (one of the few times in history socialism literally worked). It almost worked in Tito’s Yugoslavia.
On the next page Ruskin comes very close to the “subjective-value theory.” “There are few bargains in which the buyer can ascertain with anything like precision that the seller would have taken no less.” This is correct. Economics demands knowledge of various moving parts. Ruskin, however, does not draw the Austrian conclusion. He says because of this lack of knowledge neither side will try to outwit the other.
Conclusion of justice: diminish the wealth in one man’s hands through a chain of men. This doesn’t necessarily mean communism. It simply points out if there are limits to the amount of wealth in one man’s hands, it automatically limits his power over their lives (199). Just payment must be diffused through “a descending series of offices or grades of labour.”
Essay IV: Ad Valorum
Ruskin now tries to tie together his economic theory where it concerns value, prices, etc. Unlike economists of his time (Smith and Marx), Ruskin does not go for a full objective theory of value. There is a value to the object, to be sure, but Ruskin avoids Marx’s crude mistake. The value is in the use of the object (206). Midway through the essay Ruskin breaks free from these lines of thought altogether: “A truly valuable thing is that which leads to life with its whole strength” (209). We must desire things that lead to life.
Ruskin has subtly but brilliantly changed the definition of wealth. It is no longer what we “have” but what we can use (210). But this only works when it is in the hands of those capable of using. This leads to his famous saying, “Wealth is the possession of the valuable by the valiant” (211).
The book ends with some final essays which contain useful advice:
“All good architecture is the expression of national life and character” (233).
“The entire object of true education is to make people not merely do the right things, but enjoy the right things” (234). I never thought discipleship and architecture would be interwoven like this, but they are. As James K. A. Smith points out, the shopping mall is modeled after a cathedral and it has its own liturgies. When you are in a shopping mall, it is discipling you.
“True kingship consists in a stronger moral state, and a truer thoughtful state than that of others” (253).
Fors Clavigera
Ruskin’s letters are interesting. His mother made him memorize Deut. 32, Psalm 119, the Sermon on the Mount, most of Revelation, and 1 Cor. 15 (307). He learned his Toryism from Walter Scott.
January 15, 2014
Ruskin believed in the Middle Ages and resented that they had ever ended. In this particular book – a collection of four lectures on contemporary economics, published in 1862 – the Middle Ages are not exactly front and center. They hover in the background, however, and Ruskin achieves an unexpected synthesis in prescribing a sort of socialism which is also, clearly, an echo of the ancient guild system.
June 17, 2009
Unto This Last is the best political economy essays I've read. Ruskin's business was art and made his living as a critic. This does not seem to be the best foundation for a politcal economist but it does once you start reading... great art is not made possible without the distribution of wealth being directed in a way where society values its creation.
If that description sounds left, it is, and Unto This Last ultimately shaped Gandhi's philosophies and put them into practice when he started his newspaper in 1908, the Indian Opinion, where all employees were paid the same salary regardless of function or race or nationality. He also translated the book into Gujarati in 1908.
If that description sounds left, it is, and Unto This Last ultimately shaped Gandhi's philosophies and put them into practice when he started his newspaper in 1908, the Indian Opinion, where all employees were paid the same salary regardless of function or race or nationality. He also translated the book into Gujarati in 1908.
May 29, 2024
A sagaciously written collection of essays. The readers may find some whits trite. Considering the era in which these were composed, it is tacit why the texts were reprobated.
October 30, 2013
This is Ruskin at his best. The four chapters are very organised, he masterly refuted economic theories and typically tried to add the human factor and the human value to the economic equation. The book is a credit for a highly acclaimed art critic, who very easily, it seems, criticised economic theories and made it look as though he could really criticise anything and add valuable opinions to every street of life.
It is no wonder he got attacked in an age when capitalism was at its most vicious peak in England. I wish he had enough confidence to complete it though. He had his own printing house, so it was only a matter of confidence that stood between him and the unwritten part of the book, and what was planned to be serialised could have easily joined the rest of the essays in the union of a printer's spine.
My main reservation on the book is its mythical dimension. Ruskin, it seems, is never able to detach himself fully from the mythical world that runs in his brain. Even when he is discussing theories of economics and application of commerce, refuting political economists and trade experts, the mythical element has to still come up. He couldn't help it though, if this was his frame of mind
It is no wonder he got attacked in an age when capitalism was at its most vicious peak in England. I wish he had enough confidence to complete it though. He had his own printing house, so it was only a matter of confidence that stood between him and the unwritten part of the book, and what was planned to be serialised could have easily joined the rest of the essays in the union of a printer's spine.
My main reservation on the book is its mythical dimension. Ruskin, it seems, is never able to detach himself fully from the mythical world that runs in his brain. Even when he is discussing theories of economics and application of commerce, refuting political economists and trade experts, the mythical element has to still come up. He couldn't help it though, if this was his frame of mind
December 22, 2017
There is a reason why Ruskin is remembered as an art critic and not as an economist. There are so many fallacies in these essays that after a while I quit trying to analyze them and just let the words flow over me. Ruskin did write well, so the flow of the words gives a certain pleasure. Ruskin had a good heart, and he was not the only one to see the heartlessness in the theories and practices of classical economics. But Ruskin’s response to this problem is to prescribe that we all must behave like Victorian gentlemen. Oh please, let’s be real about this — Victorian gentleman engaged in a lot more immoral behavior and caused a lot more suffering than all of Dickens’ “hard facts” men put together. If you really think that the system is rotten, let’s go all the way with Karl Marx and work to bring the whole mess crashing down, so that maybe something better will rise in its wake. Or temper the harshness of classical economics with concepts drawn from psychology, sociology and behavioral economics, taking into account our frailty, irrationality and basic desire to do good. But god save us from the scourge of Victorian gentleman.
May 20, 2016
Ruskin may have been a social critic of the time, but his works does little to inspire the world of today. His only contribution to today’s society is how to appreciate gothic architecture. To address your readership as delusional is not a great way to introduce yourself. It’s almost as if you’re telling your reader that they can’t make up their own mind. This fierce attack leads onto a capitalist rant, much of which is hard to follow and the ideas come thick and fast without thought for his readership. It’s also quite strange that someone who has such a strong view on communism is also very appreciative of gothic structures; since this form of architecture represents the highest social status. He also believes that to complete a task requires the sacrifice of a soul, but if the worker never enjoyed producing the architecture; then the piece should not have been attempted. There are some very mixed views here.
July 25, 2024
I love John Ruskin.
This (gifted to me by A. Lincoln) was the book of the summer. Summer's not even over, and I know it to be true regardless. How do I give an overview of this genius of a man? The peak of the liberal arts? A whistleblower, a truth teller, an artful ranter, a geologist, a commentator on architecture, on art itself, an economist, a philosopher, an emotionally competent human being.
What a guy. What a guy. (ignoring his track record with women)
It took me long enough to finish these writings. I read them in two distinct sessions, one while on my roadtrip and one while in my new town. Over the course of this time, I have marked 37 sticky notes at particular passages of importance, which I just reviewed and relished in the fact that they were, in fact, all still as particularly important as I originally thought they were. Ruskin, I have come to find out, is a man who influenced Gandhi, Tolstoy, & Proust. He is so accomplished I cannot even begin to explain and yet his work rings so true, so bloody true, as do few people's work after they succeed in being accomplished at whatever it was they sought to be accomplished at. He's a bizzare one - a conservative socialist of types, who calls himself a Tory and a communist, who is the elite yet acts like he's poor, who was raised Catholic but gives granola nature boy vibes, who went insane but is a rare voice of sanity in a vastly mental world. Here is a human who knew what it was to be human, who knew what it was to not only live life but to feel it reverberating through your bones, to see it stretched across the pink-streaked sky and to write it like an angel with the devil's fire under him. I could go on forever. I love John Ruskin.
I won't spend too long fan-girling because I'd like to document some of the things he said here as I will certainly be needing to refer back to them again. Isn't it nice when you finally read something of worth and substance that you know you will think about for the rest of your life? Feels good. Feels very good.
Without further ado -
Notes:
Introduction
The model of the state = family, with interdependence. (very flexi-self of him)
Nature of Gothic
Mistakes —> man
Perfection —> machine
Banish imperfection —> destroy expression
It is not that men are ill fed, but that they have no pleasure in the work by which they make their bread, and therefore look to wealth as the only means of pleasure
Rant against the separation of labour:
*****It is not, truly speaking, the labor that is divided; but the men: - divided into mere segments of men, broken into small fragments and crumbs of life; so that all the little price of intelligence that is left in a man is not enough to make a pin, or a nail, but exhausts itself in making the point of a pin or the head of a nail. Now it is a good and desirable thing, truly, to make many pins in a day; but if we could only see with what crystal sand their pints were polished, - sand of human soul, much to be magnified before it can be discovered for sand of human soul, much to be magnified before it can be discerned for what it is - we should think there might be some loss in it also… we manufacture everything he except men; we blanch cotton, and strengthen steel, and refine sugar, and shape pottery; but to brighten, to strengthen, to refine, or to form a single living spirit, never enters into our estimate of advantages****
Well-rounded people:
“We want one man to be always thinking, and another to be always working, and both should be gentlemen; in the best sense. as it is, we make both ungentle, the one envying, the other despising, his brother; and the mass of society is made up of morbid thinkers, and miserable workers. Now it is only by labor that thought can be made healthy, and only by thought that labor can be made happy, and the two cannot be separated with impunity… all professions should be liberal, and there should be less pride felt in peculiarity of employment… the painter should grind his own colors; the architect work in the masons yard with his men”
The Two Boyhoods
Nature lover, granola boy:
Here is something He has made which no one has marred. Pride of purple rocks, and river pools of blue, and tender wilderness of glittering trees, and misty lights of evening on immeasurable hills
- defends Turner, for painting as he saw life, with the beauty of nation and the labor of men
Unto this Last
- honesty as the highest virtue, but people flame it for being too low
- Pay everyone of profession same even if some are worse than others - reward is for them to be “chosen” (interesting take)
- Public has put merchants in a bad place where they believe they are corrupt and systems are only in place for them to be corrupt… does not have to be this way. commerce must be made to me not selfish
- There are occasions of death for each profession; merchant must find what he would die for too
- Currently the art of making yourself rich is the art of keeping your neighbor poor
- Reform schools, will not need to reform prisons
Absolute justice is indeed no more attainable than absolute truth; but the righteous man is distinguished from the unrighteous by his desire and hope of truth. Absolute justice be unattainable, as much justice as we need for all practical use is attainable by all those who make it their aim
(relates to my thought of the separation of 'high' moral and 'low' moral legal truths)
- Equality is impossible, some men are superior in talent to others. Government and cooperation are in all things the Laws of Life, anarchy and competition the laws of death
- Positive labor produces life, negative produces death. Child rearing is the ultimate positive labor
- Question is not “how much do they make?” But “what purpose do they spend”
- There is no wealth but life…. The country is richest which nourishes the greatest number of noble and happy human beings (not quite utilitarianism). The maximum of life can only be reached by the maximum of virtue
- Questions Free will!! —> "dispositions... Had he them by inheritance or by education! By one or the other they must come; and as in him, so also in the poor. Either the poor are of a race essentially different from ours, and unreedemable, or else by such care as we ourselves received, we may make them confident and sober as ourselves (education)"
We need examples of people who decide for themselves that they have resolved to seek not greater wealth but simpler pleasure; not higher fortune but deeper felicity; making the first of possessions, self-possession, and honoring themselves in the harmless pride and calm pursuits of peace
Luxury is indeed possible in the future, but at present luxury can only be enjoyed by the ignorant; the cruelest man living could not sit at his feast, unless he sat blindfold
Traffic
- Taste is a moral quality because it expresses what you like
- Entire object of true education is to make people not merely do the right things but enjoy the right things - not merely industrious but to love industry; not merely learned but to love knowledge - not merely pure, but to love purity, not merely just, but to hunger and thirst after justice
- Whole earth is sacred, not just the church
If you can fix some conception of a true human sate of life to be striven for - life, good for all men, as for yourselves; if you can determine some honest and simple order of existence; following those trodden ways of wisdom, which are pleasantness, and seeking her quiet and withdrawn paths, which are peace - then, and so sanctifying wealth into ‘commonwealth,’ all your art, your literature, your daily labors, your domestic affection, and citizen’s duty, will join and increase into one magnificent harmony
Of King’s Treasuries
- ‘there is an education which, in itself, is the advancement of Life; - this essential education might be more easily got, or given, than they fancy, if they set about it in the right way; while it is for no price, and by no favor, to be got, if they set about it in the wrong”
(for some reason, I don't think he's talking about a 90k-liberal-arts-school-tuition-education)
At present, ‘advancement in life’ means, becoming conspicuous in life; obtaining a position which shall be acknowledged by others to be respectable or honorable. We do not understand by this advancement, in general, the mere making of money, but the being known to have made it; not the accomplishments of any great aim, but the being seen to have accomplished it.. in a word, we mean the gratification of our thirst for applause.
- Questions Free will: unless you are a very singular person, you can be said to have no thoughts at all
you will have no legitimate right to an ‘opinion’ on any business, except that instantly under your hand. Most mens’s minds are indeed little better than rough hearth wilderness, neglected and stubborn, partly barren, partly overgrown with pestilent brakes, and venomous, wind-sown herbage of evil surmise; that the first thing you have to do for them, and yourself, is eagerly and scornfully to set fire to this; burn all the jungle into wholesome ash-heaps, and then plough and sow.
break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns
sick sick sick nature imagery
- Your wealth, your amusement, your pride, would all be alike impossible, but for those whom you scorn or forget.
Our National wish and purpose are only to be amused, our National religion is the performance of church ceremonies, and preaching of soporific truths to keep the mob quietly at work, while we amuse ourselves; and the necessity for this amusement is fastening on us, as a feverous disease of parched throat and wandering eyes -senseless, dissolute, merciless.
He is only advancing in life, whose heart is getting softer, whose blood warmer, whose brain wuicker, whose spirit is entering into Living peace
In conclusion,
John Ruskin is king.
THERE IS NO WEALTH BUT LIFE.
This (gifted to me by A. Lincoln) was the book of the summer. Summer's not even over, and I know it to be true regardless. How do I give an overview of this genius of a man? The peak of the liberal arts? A whistleblower, a truth teller, an artful ranter, a geologist, a commentator on architecture, on art itself, an economist, a philosopher, an emotionally competent human being.
What a guy. What a guy. (ignoring his track record with women)
It took me long enough to finish these writings. I read them in two distinct sessions, one while on my roadtrip and one while in my new town. Over the course of this time, I have marked 37 sticky notes at particular passages of importance, which I just reviewed and relished in the fact that they were, in fact, all still as particularly important as I originally thought they were. Ruskin, I have come to find out, is a man who influenced Gandhi, Tolstoy, & Proust. He is so accomplished I cannot even begin to explain and yet his work rings so true, so bloody true, as do few people's work after they succeed in being accomplished at whatever it was they sought to be accomplished at. He's a bizzare one - a conservative socialist of types, who calls himself a Tory and a communist, who is the elite yet acts like he's poor, who was raised Catholic but gives granola nature boy vibes, who went insane but is a rare voice of sanity in a vastly mental world. Here is a human who knew what it was to be human, who knew what it was to not only live life but to feel it reverberating through your bones, to see it stretched across the pink-streaked sky and to write it like an angel with the devil's fire under him. I could go on forever. I love John Ruskin.
I won't spend too long fan-girling because I'd like to document some of the things he said here as I will certainly be needing to refer back to them again. Isn't it nice when you finally read something of worth and substance that you know you will think about for the rest of your life? Feels good. Feels very good.
Without further ado -
Notes:
Introduction
The model of the state = family, with interdependence. (very flexi-self of him)
Nature of Gothic
Mistakes —> man
Perfection —> machine
Banish imperfection —> destroy expression
It is not that men are ill fed, but that they have no pleasure in the work by which they make their bread, and therefore look to wealth as the only means of pleasure
Rant against the separation of labour:
*****It is not, truly speaking, the labor that is divided; but the men: - divided into mere segments of men, broken into small fragments and crumbs of life; so that all the little price of intelligence that is left in a man is not enough to make a pin, or a nail, but exhausts itself in making the point of a pin or the head of a nail. Now it is a good and desirable thing, truly, to make many pins in a day; but if we could only see with what crystal sand their pints were polished, - sand of human soul, much to be magnified before it can be discovered for sand of human soul, much to be magnified before it can be discerned for what it is - we should think there might be some loss in it also… we manufacture everything he except men; we blanch cotton, and strengthen steel, and refine sugar, and shape pottery; but to brighten, to strengthen, to refine, or to form a single living spirit, never enters into our estimate of advantages****
Well-rounded people:
“We want one man to be always thinking, and another to be always working, and both should be gentlemen; in the best sense. as it is, we make both ungentle, the one envying, the other despising, his brother; and the mass of society is made up of morbid thinkers, and miserable workers. Now it is only by labor that thought can be made healthy, and only by thought that labor can be made happy, and the two cannot be separated with impunity… all professions should be liberal, and there should be less pride felt in peculiarity of employment… the painter should grind his own colors; the architect work in the masons yard with his men”
The Two Boyhoods
Nature lover, granola boy:
Here is something He has made which no one has marred. Pride of purple rocks, and river pools of blue, and tender wilderness of glittering trees, and misty lights of evening on immeasurable hills
- defends Turner, for painting as he saw life, with the beauty of nation and the labor of men
Unto this Last
- honesty as the highest virtue, but people flame it for being too low
- Pay everyone of profession same even if some are worse than others - reward is for them to be “chosen” (interesting take)
- Public has put merchants in a bad place where they believe they are corrupt and systems are only in place for them to be corrupt… does not have to be this way. commerce must be made to me not selfish
- There are occasions of death for each profession; merchant must find what he would die for too
- Currently the art of making yourself rich is the art of keeping your neighbor poor
- Reform schools, will not need to reform prisons
Absolute justice is indeed no more attainable than absolute truth; but the righteous man is distinguished from the unrighteous by his desire and hope of truth. Absolute justice be unattainable, as much justice as we need for all practical use is attainable by all those who make it their aim
(relates to my thought of the separation of 'high' moral and 'low' moral legal truths)
- Equality is impossible, some men are superior in talent to others. Government and cooperation are in all things the Laws of Life, anarchy and competition the laws of death
- Positive labor produces life, negative produces death. Child rearing is the ultimate positive labor
- Question is not “how much do they make?” But “what purpose do they spend”
- There is no wealth but life…. The country is richest which nourishes the greatest number of noble and happy human beings (not quite utilitarianism). The maximum of life can only be reached by the maximum of virtue
- Questions Free will!! —> "dispositions... Had he them by inheritance or by education! By one or the other they must come; and as in him, so also in the poor. Either the poor are of a race essentially different from ours, and unreedemable, or else by such care as we ourselves received, we may make them confident and sober as ourselves (education)"
We need examples of people who decide for themselves that they have resolved to seek not greater wealth but simpler pleasure; not higher fortune but deeper felicity; making the first of possessions, self-possession, and honoring themselves in the harmless pride and calm pursuits of peace
Luxury is indeed possible in the future, but at present luxury can only be enjoyed by the ignorant; the cruelest man living could not sit at his feast, unless he sat blindfold
Traffic
- Taste is a moral quality because it expresses what you like
- Entire object of true education is to make people not merely do the right things but enjoy the right things - not merely industrious but to love industry; not merely learned but to love knowledge - not merely pure, but to love purity, not merely just, but to hunger and thirst after justice
- Whole earth is sacred, not just the church
If you can fix some conception of a true human sate of life to be striven for - life, good for all men, as for yourselves; if you can determine some honest and simple order of existence; following those trodden ways of wisdom, which are pleasantness, and seeking her quiet and withdrawn paths, which are peace - then, and so sanctifying wealth into ‘commonwealth,’ all your art, your literature, your daily labors, your domestic affection, and citizen’s duty, will join and increase into one magnificent harmony
Of King’s Treasuries
- ‘there is an education which, in itself, is the advancement of Life; - this essential education might be more easily got, or given, than they fancy, if they set about it in the right way; while it is for no price, and by no favor, to be got, if they set about it in the wrong”
(for some reason, I don't think he's talking about a 90k-liberal-arts-school-tuition-education)
At present, ‘advancement in life’ means, becoming conspicuous in life; obtaining a position which shall be acknowledged by others to be respectable or honorable. We do not understand by this advancement, in general, the mere making of money, but the being known to have made it; not the accomplishments of any great aim, but the being seen to have accomplished it.. in a word, we mean the gratification of our thirst for applause.
- Questions Free will: unless you are a very singular person, you can be said to have no thoughts at all
you will have no legitimate right to an ‘opinion’ on any business, except that instantly under your hand. Most mens’s minds are indeed little better than rough hearth wilderness, neglected and stubborn, partly barren, partly overgrown with pestilent brakes, and venomous, wind-sown herbage of evil surmise; that the first thing you have to do for them, and yourself, is eagerly and scornfully to set fire to this; burn all the jungle into wholesome ash-heaps, and then plough and sow.
break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns
sick sick sick nature imagery
- Your wealth, your amusement, your pride, would all be alike impossible, but for those whom you scorn or forget.
Our National wish and purpose are only to be amused, our National religion is the performance of church ceremonies, and preaching of soporific truths to keep the mob quietly at work, while we amuse ourselves; and the necessity for this amusement is fastening on us, as a feverous disease of parched throat and wandering eyes -senseless, dissolute, merciless.
He is only advancing in life, whose heart is getting softer, whose blood warmer, whose brain wuicker, whose spirit is entering into Living peace
In conclusion,
John Ruskin is king.
THERE IS NO WEALTH BUT LIFE.
July 17, 2011
Essays on the principles of political economy by John Ruskin.
The essays are as follows:
Essay 1 - The Roots of Honour
Essay 2 - The Veins of Wealth
Essay 3 - Qui Judicatis Terram
Essay 4 - Ad Valorem
As summed up in the closing remarks:
"And if, on due and honest thought over these things, it seems that the kind of existence to which men are now summoned by every plea of pity and claim of right, may, for some time at least, not be a luxurious one; -- consider whether, even supposing it guiltless, luxury would be desired by any of us, if we saw clearly at our sides the suffering which accompanies it in the world. Luxury is indeed possible in the future -- innocent and exquisite; luxury for all, and by the help of all; but luxury at present can only be enjoyed by the ignorant; the cruelest man living could not sit at his feast, unless he sat blindfold. Raise the veil boldly; face the light; and if, as yet, the light of the eye can only be through tears, and the light of the body through sackcloth, go thou forth weeping, bearing precious seed, until the time come, and the kingdom, when Christ's gift of bread, and bequest of peace, shall be "Unto this last as unto thee"; and when, for earth's severed multitudes of the wicked and the weary, there shall be holier reconciliation than that of the narrow home, and calm economy, where the Wicked cease -- not from trouble, but from troubling -- and the Weary are at rest."
The essays are as follows:
Essay 1 - The Roots of Honour
Essay 2 - The Veins of Wealth
Essay 3 - Qui Judicatis Terram
Essay 4 - Ad Valorem
As summed up in the closing remarks:
"And if, on due and honest thought over these things, it seems that the kind of existence to which men are now summoned by every plea of pity and claim of right, may, for some time at least, not be a luxurious one; -- consider whether, even supposing it guiltless, luxury would be desired by any of us, if we saw clearly at our sides the suffering which accompanies it in the world. Luxury is indeed possible in the future -- innocent and exquisite; luxury for all, and by the help of all; but luxury at present can only be enjoyed by the ignorant; the cruelest man living could not sit at his feast, unless he sat blindfold. Raise the veil boldly; face the light; and if, as yet, the light of the eye can only be through tears, and the light of the body through sackcloth, go thou forth weeping, bearing precious seed, until the time come, and the kingdom, when Christ's gift of bread, and bequest of peace, shall be "Unto this last as unto thee"; and when, for earth's severed multitudes of the wicked and the weary, there shall be holier reconciliation than that of the narrow home, and calm economy, where the Wicked cease -- not from trouble, but from troubling -- and the Weary are at rest."
March 29, 2023
Unto the Last is a series of essays and a book by John Ruskin, a prominent British critic and social thinker of the 19th century. The book was originally published in serial form in 1860 in the Cornhill Magazine, and was later published in book form in 1862.
The essays in Unto the Last advocate for a radical form of social and economic reform, challenging the prevailing political and economic ideologies of the time. Ruskin argues that the principles of economics must be grounded in moral and ethical considerations, rather than simply maximizing profit and wealth.
Ruskin's other writings also explore similar themes of social and economic justice, as well as his appreciation for the natural world and his critiques of industrialization and urbanization. His works include Modern Painters, The Seven Lamps of Architecture, and The Stones of Venice, among others.
Ruskin's ideas have had a profound impact on subsequent generations of artists, writers, and thinkers, particularly in the Arts and Crafts movement and in the development of environmentalism. Ruskin's emphasis on the moral and ethical dimensions of economics and his critiques of the negative impacts of industrialization and capitalism continue to resonate today.
GPT
The essays in Unto the Last advocate for a radical form of social and economic reform, challenging the prevailing political and economic ideologies of the time. Ruskin argues that the principles of economics must be grounded in moral and ethical considerations, rather than simply maximizing profit and wealth.
Ruskin's other writings also explore similar themes of social and economic justice, as well as his appreciation for the natural world and his critiques of industrialization and urbanization. His works include Modern Painters, The Seven Lamps of Architecture, and The Stones of Venice, among others.
Ruskin's ideas have had a profound impact on subsequent generations of artists, writers, and thinkers, particularly in the Arts and Crafts movement and in the development of environmentalism. Ruskin's emphasis on the moral and ethical dimensions of economics and his critiques of the negative impacts of industrialization and capitalism continue to resonate today.
GPT
November 17, 2010
Ruskin, known primarily as an art historian and critic, had the far-ranging genius needed to take on socio-economic and political theorizing as well. This collection is a difficult read, but is surprisingly relevant for today's global economic crisis. If only the various wings of the Tea Party would read this, the destructive faith in the oxymoronic Free Market ideology might lose some of its hold on them. And the Christian elements would delight in and get righteously schooled by Ruskin's complete mastery of the Bible (even though, at the time, he had lost his belief, holding on to the moral principles while letting go of the dogma, as my teacher, Richard Fadem, has pointed out).
Want to read
November 15, 2016Wow! I learned through a wiki-page that this book greatly influenced Gandhi. It stated: "... he received a copy of Ruskin's "Unto This Last" from a British friend, Mr. Henry Polak, while working as a lawyer in South Africa in 1904. In his Autobiography, Gandhi remembers the twenty-four hour train ride to Durban (from when he first read the book), being so in the grip of Ruskin's ideas that he could not sleep at all. Gandhi said: "I determined to change my life in accordance with the ideals of the book.
July 16, 2017
On the back of this book it says that Proust declared of Ruskin: "He will teach me, for is not he, too, in some degree the Truth?"
This is one of the most interesting and compelling works of non-fiction I've read, ever. A monumental thinker.
This is one of the most interesting and compelling works of non-fiction I've read, ever. A monumental thinker.
August 30, 2007
Interesting but flawed scio/economic theories of a forgot scholar.
May 9, 2008
The glorious first blossoms of a mature, modern utopianism.
July 14, 2013
Heavy going for me but with moments of brilliance.
Read
October 15, 2020 A tough read, especially due to the distance between our two economic systems. Ruskin was preaching against (from what I can tell) somewhere in-between a mercantile and capitalist economic system, whereas I am in a neoliberal capitalist system. For this reason, the book makes for a great historical resource to introduce what the opponents of the burgeoning capitalist economy were criticizing. J.S. Mill is named explicitly; so I wish I knew something about Mill. If I am to ever read this book again I will definitely need to do some research into the basics of classical liberalism and capitalism so I can fully engage. I found the chapters on monetary policy, coinage, and the gold standard the hardest to read.
That is not to say the rest was much easier. Making the switch from punchy, direct 21st century historic texts to flowery victorian/romantic economic essays is not easy. However, I realized that, once you are totally focused, you have to really dive into each sentence - then things flow a little more. Kinda like reading Shakespeare, you have to do it until it makes sense. At the end of the book it was flowing much more naturally, and, I even started to enjoy the charm.
Despite these difficulties, I did get a real enjoyment out of this book. The passion it was written with was obvious and the encyclopedic knowledge Ruskin uses to fill the essays with antiquated literary references is impressive (although they went over my head). The book is defiantly at its most enjoyable (at least for me) when he is claiming "this is the hill I will die on," and then making a passionate defense of tradition. Although some of his ideas are (surprisingly) old-fashioned, the mood of the book convinces me that, indeed, these views could be argued with love, despite my automatic revulsion. Furthermore, the creative way he defined seemingly settled economic terms like wealth, power, and value adds to the overall polemic tone and worth of the work.
In the end it is nice to read a work void of any cynicism. A work that still believes in a future that looks different than the present. And a work that believes there is something greater to be had than pessimistically surrendering to the inevitability of human greed and wanton power.
That is not to say the rest was much easier. Making the switch from punchy, direct 21st century historic texts to flowery victorian/romantic economic essays is not easy. However, I realized that, once you are totally focused, you have to really dive into each sentence - then things flow a little more. Kinda like reading Shakespeare, you have to do it until it makes sense. At the end of the book it was flowing much more naturally, and, I even started to enjoy the charm.
Despite these difficulties, I did get a real enjoyment out of this book. The passion it was written with was obvious and the encyclopedic knowledge Ruskin uses to fill the essays with antiquated literary references is impressive (although they went over my head). The book is defiantly at its most enjoyable (at least for me) when he is claiming "this is the hill I will die on," and then making a passionate defense of tradition. Although some of his ideas are (surprisingly) old-fashioned, the mood of the book convinces me that, indeed, these views could be argued with love, despite my automatic revulsion. Furthermore, the creative way he defined seemingly settled economic terms like wealth, power, and value adds to the overall polemic tone and worth of the work.
In the end it is nice to read a work void of any cynicism. A work that still believes in a future that looks different than the present. And a work that believes there is something greater to be had than pessimistically surrendering to the inevitability of human greed and wanton power.
April 5, 2021
A fantastic collection of pieces from one of the keenest social critics of the 19th century. I was fortunate enough to learn about Ruskin through Eugene McCarraher's excellent recent book "The Enchantments of Mammon" which led me to Ruskin.
July 29, 2019
As unto thee.
September 19, 2013
This is a review of 'Unto This Last' only: I recently read Ghandi's 'Experiments with Truth' and wanted to see what could have influenced him so heavily. It's difficult to find anything to disagree with in these essays - except the whole underlying premise that given a chance, and education, people will do right. If only......
It's surprisingly modern in tone, very readable, and I've found an excellent life motto from it:
"waste nothing, and grudge nothing." Sums it up, really.
It's surprisingly modern in tone, very readable, and I've found an excellent life motto from it:
"waste nothing, and grudge nothing." Sums it up, really.
August 22, 2016
I've been reading essays from this bit by bit for quite some time. I really wish I'd made updates for each essay, because some were really extraordinary (commentaries on Gothic architecture), some were fascinating insights into the history of economics (Ruskin was an Adam Smith contemporary), and some were... just... huh (his fiction).
February 25, 2008
Absolutely loved it. Lots to consider in this book. One I will certainly re-read.
December 30, 2013
Listened to audio
May 8, 2016
from Sesame and Lilies, Ruskin's thirty-two page lecture: Of Kings' Treasuries is an absolute must read.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews